Redemption
by Cazuki
Summary: Underfell is a living hell for Sans. He's mistreated, unloved and unwanted. By a random act of fate, he is sucked into a portal at his darkest moment and spit out into the Underswap universe, where he meets his alternate counterparts. The long healing process must now begin and Sans and his Papyrus must both make choices that will change their relationships forever.
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

Okay, so he would be the _first_ to admit this hadn't been a good idea. At all. Ever.

Gaster had honestly been surprised at how… _tranquil_ the void was. At first he'd been expecting shadow beasts to come and grind his bones or an infinite blackness that would make him desperately insane. Instead, there was just… a grey room. He had no idea how big it was, as there were seemingly no walls or points of reference. But there was a floor underneath his feet and a white sky over his head, so at least he had that.

After a while (he had no idea how long, time wasn't really a thing in the void, it seemed) he'd found the 'Control Panel'. Truthfully, Gaster had no idea what the phenomenon _was_ , even with all his scientific knowledge. One day, after a fitful nap it had just… appeared. It wasn't anything physical. More like a set of floating neon blue holograms. It was fascinating to say the least and definitely more interesting than anything else in the void. So, he'd played around with it.

There'd only been small changes at first. Well, _small_ being a relative term. After a few button clicks the void was no longer a grey room with a white sky, but a peaceful, sunny meadow, like the ones Gaster had seen before the war and in human picture books. Above him the sun, and sometimes the moon, glowed. It was a definite step-up and it only encouraged him to continue fiddling with the menus and options written in a language that even he had trouble deciphering.

His second big discovery had been what he termed 'The Reel'. 'The Reel' was just that. An old film reel like the ones monsters had occasionally salvaged from the junk-piles that cascaded down Waterfall. However, instead of a clunky physical interface, the Reel simply unfolded like another set of menus, expanding across Gaster's field of view. Each one depicted a different scene, sometimes ones he recognized, sometimes ones he could never imagine. In some, he was still 'alive', playing with his sons and their friends. In others he saw them living in space, or in the human world. Sometimes they were monsters, other times humans. It was an endless amount of possibilities and, though it was improbable, Gaster had concluded these must be other universes, timelines that played out in hundreds of thousands of different ways.

Two caught his immediate attention. The first was in the Underground, exactly as Gaster remembered it. Everything was the same… except the monsters. From what Gaster could gather, each of the monsters he remembered seemed to have switched with one another. Papyrus was laid-back, wearing an orange hoodie and constantly falling asleep. Meanwhile, Sans was energetic and heroic, hustling from place to place shouting about puzzles and becoming a member of the royal guard. Despite the switches, this universe seemed bright and cheerful. Threats still existed in the form of a demented Temmie-type creature, but everything else seemed fine.

The other was the exact opposite. Everyone was in their same roles, but twisted with such evil that Gaster could barely recognize any of his former friends and family. Here, Papyrus _was_ a member of the Royal Guard. In fact, he was the _captain_. But he was far from his jovial self. In fact, he was a cruel monster, always fighting or killing or demeaning others. Even his own brother. Sans, his poor son, had been demeaned to the level of a minion and manservant.

Gaster's broken soul ached for his two sons, who had to deal with living in such a dangerous world and that they couldn't live in peace as they did in the former universe. So, determined, he'd set out to change it.

And this was what had gotten him into his particular predicament. He'd been swiping furiously at the menus, tapping various buttons and flicking switches, checking for changes. Seemingly, nothing had changed. That was until he'd opened a portal. And the Sans from the cruel universe had been sucked in. And he didn't know how to undo it. And he didn't know where he'd gone.

Was it possible for a void-being to get fired?

* * *

"YOU USELESS SACK OF BONES!" Papyrus roared, red eyes burning. He glared down at his older brother, who was struggling not to tremble in his sneakers and failing miserably.

"S-sorry, B-boss…" Sans rubbed his clammy skeletal hands together in nervous habit. He glanced up at Captain Papyrus, but quickly flicked his skull back down when their glowing eyes met.

"SORRY?!" Papyrus spit out the word contemptuously, causing Sans to twitch like the word had physically hurt him. "YOU THINK 'SORRY' IS GOING TO FIX THIS!?" He growled low, eyes flaring before he spun around on one booted heel in the snow of Snowdin Forest and stepped away, shouting as he went. "I MEAN, YOU'RE ALWAYS SO PITFULLY WEAK AND USELESS! BUT THIS _REALLY_ IS THE CHERRY ON TOP! HOW IN ASGORE'S NAME COULD YOU LET A _HUMAN_ GET PAST YOU!?" Papyrus turned again, observing the pitiful figure of his brother. His brother had always been short, a fact that did nothing to help Papyrus' opinion of him. At the moment though, he seemed even smaller, his shoulders hunched towards his ribs, curling in on himself to try and take up an even smaller amount of space than he already did. Sweat rolled down his skull, occasionally congealing in the crack that ran down from the crown of his skull and past his right eye-socket, where trembling red dots stared resolutely at the ground. He was weak. So very weak.

And Papyrus hated that.

"B-boss! I-i!..." Sans tried to speak, his voice trembling as it always did when he was nervous. Which was almost always. Papyrus hated _that_ too.

* * *

It really wasn't his fault! Really! It wasn't like he'd _meant_ for the human to escape!

Sans' mind raced as he tried to find some way to explain it so that he _wouldn't_ get hit again. It was proving to be an impossible task. The start was innocent enough. He'd been at his sentry station, keeping a careful watch on the traps for any sign of human activity. Definitely _not_ sleeping.

Then, suddenly, from out of the blue, he was woken up- I mean _surprise attacked_ by a human. Of course, he was ready to go to battle immediately. But that stupid human and that stupid asshole talking plant friend of his had tricked him. Yeah, that was it! No, wait…

Wait, yeah. It had been a… tactical decision!

"B-boss. They… um… they had a _secret power_!" Sans blurted out, quickly covering his teeth with his hands. That just sounded like an excuse. Sans braced for the punch, but instead was met by a quirked eye-ridge. Sans breathed an internal sigh of relief. Good, he'd piqued his interest. He continued, gesticulating wildly with his arms. "Yeah! T-they could… their words had _power_ , boss! They…uhmm… _hypnotized_ me!" He studied Papyrus' expression, relieved it hadn't changed from minute curiosity. "They had potions too! Poison! They and their partner shoved it down my throat and it knocked me right out! I tried to fight them, but… t-the poison was too strong…" Sans took a deep, shuddering breath. Maybe he'd get out of this without a new bruise. Or at least, a new scar. "I… I called you as soon as I woke up!"

Sans, at the end of his explanation, stopped, arms dropping to his sides before hunching inwards again, waiting for his judgement. He carefully, but subtly, observed the minute changes in Papyrus' expression. His red eye glared down at him, never changing their focus. They seemed to burn holes right through Sans soul, going straight through his half-assed lies. Sans fought not to tremble uncontrollably, though he couldn't stop his nervous twitches. Papyrus' fanged mandible was moving slightly, as if chewing on the words he was about to say.

A second passed. Two. Three. Then Papyrus opened his jaw, sucking in air.

"That is… satisfactory." Sans couldn't help but sigh, his shoulder slumping down as he momentarily relaxed. "We should keep an eye on this human… if what you say is true-" his eyes flared at Sans, causing him to instantly tense again. "-then we may need to exercise a certain degree of caution."

Papyrus advanced towards Sans, his long stride closing the distance between them in moments. Sans tensed even more, if such a thing were possible, straightening his spin on instinct and presenting himself like a soldier before his commander. Papyrus leaned down so his skull was level with Sans', forcing Sans to look directly into his brother's menacing eyes.

Aeons seemed to pass, Sans frozen in place by Papyrus; soul-searching stare. The silence was deafening and Sans could feel the beating of his soul in his skull, responding to his distress. Shit, what was he going to do?!

Suddenly, Papyrus nodded, humming as he started to draw himself back up. Sans was about to relax when a glowed palm swung at his face, slapping his right cheek-bone. Hard. So hard that Sans was thrown from his feet-

 _THUD!_

-flying into the trunk of the nearest pine-tree. Sans' back hit the tree full-force, knocking the air from his frame in a painful gasp. His soul screamed in pain. He slid down the trunk, collapsing into the snow where he curled into a ball, hot tears streaming down his cold face.

"OH, STOP CRYING YOU WASTE OF SPACE." Papyrus turned, dismissively waving at Sans. "NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT. YOU BETTER NOT COME BACK HOME TONIGHT IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU EITHER." And he walked away, back towards Snowdin.

When he was gone, Sans let out a loud, gross sob, trembles overcoming his whole body. He clamped his mandible shut, choking the next sob before he embarrassed himself further. He tried to move, hissing when he moved his spine. Another bruise would promptly be forming, he knew. However, there wasn't any permanent damage. So, battling through the searing pain, he stumbled onto his feet, steadying himself against the tree. He took shallow breathes to avoid irritating his injured spine and limped slowly away from Snowdin, deeper into the forest.

As he made his way deeper into the foliage, the surrounding area became darker, the light of the roof-crystals blocked out. Normally, doing something like this was a death wish, as areas like this were a favourite for monster-killers. But Sans didn't care. In fact, he welcomed being dusted. Then he wouldn't have to deal with this _shit_ anymore. He wouldn't have to deal with the verbal abuse from his brother. Or the physical abuse of all the other monsters. Or the fact that he knew he would one day be killed and no-one would even give a damn. He just wanted to leave it all behind.

Sans stumbled on a tree-root, falling to the snowy floor. He didn't get up. He was just so _tired_. Tired of being mistreated. Tired of being abused. Tired of no-one caring about him. Just… tired in general. His health had never been great and he was indubitably the weakest of all monsters in the Underground. He chuckled bitterly to himself as he lay in the snow, letting the frigid cold bite into his bones. Yeah, even the _kids_ were stronger than him. How pathetic was that? His chuckles turned to sobs and he shook helplessly on the ground. Yeah, he should just die.

Die.

Die.

Die.

Die.

A loud whooshing sound, distracting him away from his self-hatred.

"Huh?" He lifted his skull from the snow, glaring forwards. He'd expected to see a monster poised to finish him off. Instead, however, was met with a semi-solid blue mass, which undulated like water floating in the air. Sans' pupils contracted. That was new.

He had already begun to crawl backwards, instinct driving him to flee. But the mass didn't seem to like that and instead of going backwards, Sans felt himself start to be sucked forwards, carried by an unexplainable gale. Sans was lifted from the floor and he was forced to grab a stray branch to stop himself sailing straight into the mass. Was this some new monster ability or something!?

"Agh!"

He kept holding onto the branch, feeling it bend as the force of the sucking increased, taking snow and rocks and twigs from the surrounding area into the mass.

"Shit! Come on!"

Sans grabbed the branch with two hands now, gripping as hard as he could. He didn't want to die. Not like this! He tried to climb along the branch to get to safer ground. One hand forward, then another. The force of the pull was only getting stronger. But Sans was determined. If there had been anything he was decent at it was surviving all the shit that got thrown at him. Somehow.

"Come on you useless bag of bones! Work those lazy arms!" He shouted at himself, unable to hear it over the sound of the mass behind him. He was doing it. He'd progressed to over the halfway point now and ever closer to the trunk of the tree. If he could just get behind the trunk, the mass probably wouldn't be able to get him. Sans grinned despite himself. If there was a time to prove his brother wrong, it was now.

His hope was promptly snapped in two as the branch he was inching along did the same, splintering and sending his careening into the mass.

 _That's it,_ he thought as a blue light engulfed him, _this is how I die_.

* * *

Papyrus yawned loudly, humming in satisfaction when his bones popped from being stretched over his head. He put his hands in the front-pocket of his hoodie, fumbling around until he found a lollipop in the mess of old wrappers and cigarettes. He pulled it, throwing off the wrapping with a practiced movement, throwing the wrapper behind him as he stuck it in-between his jaws.

From behind him, he heard a little humph and the crinkle of the wrapper as someone caught it. Papyrus smiled to himself, turning his skull slowly around and down.

He spoke around the lollipop. "oh hey bro…didn't see you there." Sans glared up at him, his mandible set into a pout and his white pupils glaring disapprovingly at him.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T 'SEE ME'!?" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. "THE GREAT AND MAGNIFICENT SANS HAS BEEN FOLLOWING YOU ALL MORNING!" He pointed accusingly at the wrapper. "AND DON'T LITTER, I HAVE ENOUGH JOBS TO DO _WITHOUT_ YOUR BOONDOGGLING!"

Papyrus nodded, trying to look suitably repentant, though he knew it would come out as nothing more than a lazy smile.

"sorry bro. won't happen again." He reached out his arm, grabbing the wrapper from his brother phalanges and shoving it, with all the other trash, into his hoodie pocket. He needed to restock on 'pops soon.

"IT BETTER NOT!" Sans exclaimed, pouting for a bit longer before his permanent smile took hold again.

"anyway," Papyrus continued as they walked down the path in Snowdin forest, "why in asgore's name did you wake me up so early? it's still a good hour before our shifts…"

Sans looked offended, his nasal aperture flaring. "LANGUAGE, PAPY! AND IT NEVER HURTS TO BE ENTHUSIASTIC!"

"but haven't we already let the kid pass? isn't this kind of pointless now?" Papyrus retorted, raising one long phalange into the air to empathise his point. Sans obviously hadn't expected that question, because for a moment he stayed completely silent, which only happened when he had to think hard about something. After a moment, Papyrus heard a loud 'ahah!' and Sans ran in front of him, stopping him.

"OF COURSE! BUT I HAVE A FEELING!" Papyrus tilted his skull, eye-ridges rising.

"a feeling?" He chuckled. It was an old trick of Sans to excuse any illogical behaviour with him saying he had a 'feeling'. Of course, Papyrus wasn't the type to believe in metaphysical stuff like that. It was probably more out of habit that his brother had dragged him here. It wasn't like he minded though. "again? what sort of feeling is it this time bro?" Sans puffed out his chest, his blue bandana waving dramatically around his battle body.

"A FEELING SOMETHING DRAMATIC WILL HAPPEN IN THIS! EXACT! SPOT!" Sans dragged his snow-bots along the floor, creating a small 'x'. Papyrus' eye-sockets widened slightly in mock amazement.

"really? here?"

"YES, HERE! MWHEHEH! AND THE MAGNIFICENT SANS WILL BE THE _FIRST_ TO WITNESS IT!" Papyrus gasped, putting a hand to his skull and making to swoon.

"and you trusted me to be your companion? i'm truly honoured."

"MWEHEHEH! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU'RE TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY FOR ONCE, PAPY!" Sans laughed long and loud, striking a heroic pose which looked somewhat hilarious considering his short stature. Sans spun on his heel, facing deeper into the forest. "NOW, ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS WAI-"

Suddenly, a loud whooshing noise came from in front of them. Sans jumped back with an undignified yelp, jumping straight into Papyrus who's eyes were widened for real now, pupils contracted and bones tense. That was new.

Out of the blue shimmering mass, snow started to pile up, spreading out across the patch. When it seemed like the mass was done, it threw out a small black and white ball, flinging it into the snow. Having dropped its load, the mass flashed away as quickly as it'd appeared.

A deathly silence settled over the pair.

"what was…" Papyrus started, Sans slowly advancing towards the snowdrift where the black and white ball was curled up. Papyrus watched him carefully, making sure he was in no imminent danger.

"OH MY STARS!" Sans exclaimed, running towards the huddle ball and glancing urgently at Papyrus. "PAP! QUICK! IT'S A MONSTER!"

A monster…? That was _definitely_ new. Papyrus hustled to the snow drift, looking down at his brother who was on his knees, staring at the white and black ball. As Papyrus got closer, he saw the ball wasn't a ball at all. It was indeed a monster.

"…Urgh…" the monster groaned and Sans and Papyrus both twitched. The monster's voice sounded faintly familiar. "What… how am I… ow."

The monster uncurled from the ball-shape it had drawn itself into, revealing the black was from a jacket and shorts. When they saw the monster's face, they were both too shocked for words. Well, at least Sans was.

"well, damn." Papyrus said, the lollipop falling to the floor.

And this time, Sans didn't correct him.


	2. Chapter 2

For a single, blissful moment, Sans really thought that was it. Goodbye cruel world, I hardly knew thee. It wasn't a good way to go, but what did it matter. At least it was somewhat painless.

These thoughts prevailed exactly as long as it took for Sans to start breathing again. Then the pain began. A jolt of magic ran up his spine, shocking his soul back into life. And it hollered.

"…Urgh…"

So much for being dead. Wait… why _wasn't_ he dead? The pain was numbed slightly by confusion and Sans uncurled from the foetal position he'd apparently been forced into by the blue mass, leaning on the snowdrift below him. His eye-lights slowly appeared as he blearily looked around like a lost child. Snow, snow, trees and more snow.

What the _hell_? Wasn't he just in Snowdin Forest again? A crackle of energy shot down Sans' spine and with it a sudden panic. No. This wasn't Snowdin Forest. Well, it _looked_ like it – in fact it looked exactly like it - but it _felt_ different somehow. It felt… warmer and brighter and more lively. It felt oddly calm and peaceful and that alone put Sans on edge.

"well, damn."

 _!_

A painful arc of magic jolted up Sans' spine as he did the same, twisting himself around like a feral cat, facing the source of the sound.

Sans thought he was facing a mirror. A bright, blue mirror. He stopped, struck dumb, jaws agape. Okay, now this was just _weird_. Was it an illusion, an image of his frazzled, broken mind? Had he done it? Had he finally gone insane?

The mirror's eyes focused on his, the pupils slowly morphing into little white stars.

"Oh… my… STARS! PAP, PAP! THEY LOOK JUST LIKE ME!" Sans twitched, the yelling reminding him all too much of his brother. The mirror turned around to a figure behind him and Sans followed his gaze. His red pupils contracted and bottomless fear filled his soul. Behind the blue mirror, standing tall above the pair was-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sans started screaming, the weirdness of the whole situation getting to him all at once. The mirror and the Boss look-alike winced at the sudden loud noise and that was all the chance Sans needed. With panicked strength, Sans forced himself onto his feet. His legs were wobbly and his skull swam, but he didn't care. He started running.

The mirror and boss look-alike called out, probably shouting at him to stop, but he was already far away. Sneakers pounded against the hard snow as he made a break for it down the path, pain bolting up his entire body with each impact. His mind was, however, otherwise occupied.

What the fuck happened!? Where was he!? Why was there… _other versions of him and Papyrus_?!

 _SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!_

This was too weird! He'd read about stuff like this before, but he'd never thought it was possible! There had to be some way out of here, right? A door or something? His ribs were heaving, unable to deal with the surge of physical activity. Sans started panting and his bones started burning. Dammit, was he really _this_ slow!?

He ran into the cover of the not-pine-trees, leaning against one of the trunks. He bent double, gasping. He had to get out of here. His mind desperately flashed all the possibilities, until it settled on one idea. He hadn't done it in a while and it was risky, but no more than possibly being killed by two clones.

He'd have to teleport back. Sans internally winced at the thought of drawing his brother's ire just after he'd told him not to come home, but he hardly had a choice. It was kill or be killed, and Sans could hardly kill anything, much less handle a 2-on-1 fight.

Sans reached mentally inside himself, assessing his magic levels. They were pitifully low, but there was just enough to teleport. He took a deep, shuddering breath and focused his mind, envisioning his and Papyrus' house. The familiar tingle of pre-transport fizzled through his bones, mixing with the pain and intensifying it. Sans grunted, closing his eye-sockets and letting his magic go.

When Sans opened his eyes, he was in the living-room of his house.

Or so he thought. The small second of hope was shattered when a tingle arched up Sans' spine. Shit, it hadn't worked. Why did nothing ever work for him!? In animalistic desperation he looked around. He paused. It was so much… nicer than his house. There wasn't any graffiti on the walls or tears in the wallpaper for one thing. The floor was carpeted in some soft material and everything seemed so clean and organized. Sans flicked his skull from left to right, taking it all in. Realization dawned. He'd just teleported into the lion's den.

"SHIT!" Now he really was going to die. He began to bolt for the front door, hoping to run back out into the forest before the clones got back. However, as soon as he took a step, the pain in his spine came back full-force, bringing a dizzy spell with it. Sans stumbled. Oh come _on_!

He stumbled towards the door, the dizziness seeping into his mind and clouding his thoughts. His vision started to swim and Sans couldn't tell where his feet were. He bashed hard into a nearby desk and knocking some weird ornament on the floor. He kept moving.

"Urgh…" he groaned, forcing himself forward. His soul screamed at him to just stop but he ignored it as he had done many times before. He had to get out.

He heard voices and felt his soul drop. How did they get here so fast? He shook his skull, which caused the dizziness to get even worse. Didn't matter. He just… had to get out.

By the time Sans reached the door, it was already open, revealing the blue mirror and the boss look-alike behind him. He stopped in front of the blue mirror, trapped. He didn't know where he was, how he got here, or who these monsters were. It didn't matter. He could only just make out the mirror's face. It was frowning. His mind stuttered-

 _I… have… to-_

And died. His bones gave in and he started to collapse, blacking out mid-way.

* * *

One second, red him was screaming and running into the distance, the next he and Papyrus were running after him. Well, Sans was running, Papyrus was only going a notch above walking speed. It'd seemed like a lost cause. They couldn't find red him anywhere.

Aw man, he hadn't meant to spook the little guy. Guilt weighed heavy on Sans' mind, pupils downcast. He hadn't been able to get a good look at the red him before he'd bolted, but from what he had seen, it didn't look good.

"DID WE LOSE HIM!?" He turned to Papyrus, who was investigating the trees as they passed. Papyrus didn't respond and Sans' soul froze. Oh no, it was all his fault, wasn't it?

Papyrus twitched, almost imperceptibly and flicked his head down the path toward Snowdin.

"not yet bro. this way." Papyrus didn't wait for Sans to respond, rushing only slightly faster. Sans nodded, boosting to close the gap. Papyrus may be slower than him, but his stride was longer, so it took an effort to keep up with him sometimes. Papyrus turned his skull to the side. "bro. run ahead of me, would 'ya?" Sans complied, boosting himself a little more. He barely felt the bony hand on his shoulder.

One moment they were running down the path to Snowdin, and in a bright flash they were suddenly outside their house. Papyrus gripped his shoulder tightly, pulling Sans out of his momentum and stopping both of them.

"i think he's in there." His brother pointed one, long phalange at the door to their house. Sans turned.

"WHY WOULD HE BE IN THERE?" Papyrus smiled lazily at him, winking in that way he always did when didn't want to explain something.

"call it a… 'feeling'." Sans nodded, noting that Papyrus hadn't answered his question. He gently shrugged off Papyrus' hand and made for the door, Papyrus following close behind.

He took a deep breath, approaching the door resolutely – the magnificent Sans _never_ showed fear – and pushed the door open. The red him was walking straight towards them. He looked a lot like Papyrus when he was on a sugar-crash. Sans winced. A nasty purple bruise marked the left hemisphere of his skull while the right side was covered with a huge crack. When red him stopped in front of him, wild, red pupils stared at his own. A long moment passed and then red him fell forward. Sans gasped, reacting fast. He drove forward and caught the falling monster before he hit the ground.

Initially, Sans was incredibly surprised at just how _light_ red him was. Sans himself wasn't heavy, but the red him felt much, much lighter. Sans felt his soul drop in his ribcage. Sans found he could easily keep the red him stable, resting him on his clavicle.

"he alright?" Papyrus asked, leaning down to inspect red him. Sans lowered his voice.

"I don't know." He reached mentally inside, using his magic to reach out towards the red him's soul. He gasped, blue pupils contracting.

HP: 0.3/1

Stars! He turned to Papyrus, a deep frown set on his mandible.

"Pap! He's hurt real bad! Help me get him on the sofa!" Papyrus didn't need to be told twice. He nodded, reaching down and scooping up red him in his long arms. Papyrus's skull twitched when he too noticed how light the red him was, but he didn't comment, taking red him further into the living-room. Sans closed the door and followed after. Papyrus slowly lowered red him onto the sofa, taking extra care not to jostle him.

The red him's body was trembling, barely audible hisses escaping his mandible.

"is he still breathing?" Papyrus' expression was calm as always, but Sans could see the concern in his eyes. He smiled, trying to lighten the situation.

"Yeah, he is." He took a deep breath. "Just give me a second." Sans nudged Papyrus back, taking his position next to red him. He reached inside himself again, holding his gloved hands over the monster. He took another calming breath, and green magic floated down from his palms, slowly seeping into red him's skeleton. He reached out to his soul. The soul clung onto his magic tightly and Sans began to send gentle healing waves to it as well.

The hissing started to grower quieter, replaced by deep, even breathing and the bruise lightened then faded into nothing. Sans slowly retracted his magic. He couldn't do much at his current level, but at least the soul wasn't going to dust. He felt the soul cry out unintelligibly to him. Sans frowned, expression turning downcast again. He'd never seen a soul that sad before.

He let out a held breath, stepping back into Papyrus, who held onto his clavicle to support him. Papyrus spoke, his voice low but firm.

"will he live?"

Sans turned up to Papyrus, smiling wide. "Of course he will! DO YOU DOUBT THE HEALING PROWESS OF THE GREAT AND MAGNIFICENT SANS!?" Papyrus quirked an eye-ridge, then smiled down at him, sighing.

"never, bro." Papyrus looked up at red him, who was now snoring quietly. He spoke tentatively. "but… what do you want to do with him?"

"DO!?" Sans exclaimed. Red him groaned, turning onto his side to face the back of the sofa. Sans twitched, chastising himself internally. He forced himself to lower his voice. "Do? We help him of course!" He broke away from Papyrus, walking up the stairs to his room, where he recovered an old blanket. He brought it back down, draping it over the red him, who promptly curled into the old fabric, grumbling. "We can't leave a monster in need, Pap. It wouldn't be right."

Papyrus sighed, another lollipop already in his mouth and rubbing his skull with his phalanges.

"yeah… i guess…" He paused. "just that… we should be careful, `alright? we have no idea where this guy came from… he could be dangerous." Sans grinned at Papyrus, picking up their pet rock and placing it back on the desk. He walked over to the sofa, sitting at red him's feet.

"I'm always careful! Besides, this was the feeling I was talking about! I'm sure it'll be fine!" Papyrus paused, then smiled, nodding.

"yeah, i guess." Papyrus shrugged, planting himself on the arm above red him's head, watching over the both of them.

* * *

Boy, Red sure could sleep. Papyrus sat on the sofa arm, flicking through channels. Now, Papyrus was not averse to afternoon naps, but Red seemed to be taking it to a whole new level. They must have been sitting here for a good few hours now, but Red didn't show any signs of stirring. In fact, the clone seemed to be sleeping like the _dead_. Papyrus chuckled to himself.

Seriously though, when was the last time the monster had slept? It wasn't the first worrying thing about him either. His wounds and cracks were obvious and his lack of weight only deepened Papyrus' concern. Papyrus glanced over at his Sans, noting his small frown and how he wasn't really focusing on the TV. Looks like he wasn't the only one worried about Red. He sighed. Well, things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

He'd always wondered if something like this would happen, ever since he's first hypothesized it ages ago. That guy had never given him any solid details about how the system worked, but Papyrus always thought this may happen someday. Just not to him and not in this way. Papyrus shrugged internally. Welp, no way to change it now. He just had to deal with it. He reminded himself to go and pay that guy a visit at some point.

As a commercial jingle for Napsta-Steaks played, loud grumbling sounded from the bundle on the couch. Papyrus and Sans turned together and nodded in mutual understanding. Papyrus snapped the TV off with a button click, leaving the room in dead silence save for Red. Meanwhile, Sans straightened himself, shuffling backwards to give Red more room. He spoke quietly and soothingly, acting as if the skeleton was some lost puppy.

"It's okay, you don't need to rush." Red groaned in non-committal response, flopping onto his back.

"Mhmmphh-thanks Boss…" Red's voice was raspy, teetering between gruttal growling and hoarse scratching. Papyrus didn't know why he'd through it'd sounded anything like his Sans before. Sans smiled, giggling.

"Aw, no need to thank me. It's the least you deserve." Red's eye-lids fluttered, only half-attempting to open. They both waited for the penny to inevitably drop.

 _Plink._

"WHAAAAA-! Oww…" Red's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright, before his expression twisted in pain, small droplets gathering at the edge of his eye-sockets, and he flopped back down. Red groaned in pain and Sans jolted into action, closing the distance between the two instantly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I was able to heal you partially, but you're still going to feel some pain for a while." Red barked back, gritting is teeth to restrain another groan.

"You should have told me _that_ first! _Shit_ that smarts!" Papyrus noticed Sans wince. His brother disliked swearing, but it wasn't like he could just berate a stranger.

"Sorry." A few moments passed of silence while Red recovered and then Red sighed long and loud, staring up at the ceiling.

"Great… so when are you going to kill me then?" Shock shot through both Sans and Papyrus.

"KILL YOU!? WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE DO THAT!?" Red groaned again, covering his ears against the yelling, trembling slightly. Sans winced. "Oh, umm, sorry again! Um… what do you mean by 'kill' you?" Red stared at Sans, his expression utterly disbelieving.

"What do ya mean 'what do you mean'!? Y'know!? 'Kill'! Maim, dismember, torture, murder! I'm asking when you're going to dust me!" Sans looked awe-struck, jaw hanging slightly open. He could not believe what Red was saying. Red clearly couldn't believe Sans' hesitance, as he tried to sit back up again, only to flop back down with another groan. "Owh, son of a-! Help me up, would 'ya!"

Sans nodded dumbly, obliging and taking Red's outstretched hand while supporting his spine softly with his other arm. He gently lifted Red, setting him against the back of the couch, where Red caught his breath. He hadn't seemed to notice Papyrus was there, staring solely at Sans.

"Umm…" Sans began again, twiddling his gloved phalanges. "I don't know anything about 'killing' you, but I have some questions to. Like…" Stars began to form in Sans' eyes and Papyrus had to bite back a chuckle. His bro was an open book when it came to emotion. "what's your name!? Where are you from!? Why do you look like me!?" The questions came thick and fast and Red's skull scrunched up in discomfort, shuffling his legs under the blanket.

"Wooh-wooh! Seriously, stop!" Sans did, clamping his jaw shut and staring at Red with apologetic eyes. Red sighed, grabbing either side of his nasal aperture with his phalanges and taking a deep sigh. "Okay… so you _aren't_ going to kill me?" Sans enthusiastically nodded his head. "And you have _no_ idea how I got here?" Sans nodded again. "Great. _Juust_ great." Red growled. "So I'm stuck in some weird-ass mirror world with some weird-ass clone of myself who has no idea how to get me back. This is all just. So. Peachy!"

Sans spoke again, eyes changing into stars. "You're a clone?! Wait, so does that mean you're called 'Sans' too?" Red Sans twitched at the name and slowly nodded to Sans.

"Yeah…? So what, is that your name too?"

Sans nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Aw man, this is so cool!" Red Sans humphed.

"More like confusing. Look Blue-"

"BLUE! YOU CALLED ME BLUE!?" Sans yelled, both Sans winced and Papyrus found it incredibly hard not to burst out laughing. They were so similar in weird ways. "Sorry! Umm… I guess if that's what you want to call me, I'll call you… Red!"

The newly deemed Red's pupils widened. "Why that?"

"'Cause you look like a red version of me, with the cool glowing eyes and everything! Also, is that tooth really gold!" Sans pointed at one of Red's pointing fangs, which was coated in dull gold. Red's cheek bones flared up with colour, covering his mouth with his hands.

"None o' ya business!" Red looked like he was about to say something else, but stopped, dropping his arms to his sides and letting his skull loll against the back of the couch. "Oh, I give up! Fine, have it your way! Not like it matters, I'm gonna die here anyway…" Sans' smile dropped instantly, crestfallen. Honestly, Papyrus was concerned as well. What kind of place had Red come from that the first question he asked was if they were going to kill him or not?

Papyrus, deciding Sans had enough, made his move. He slipped silently behind Red, leaning in close and whispering into his ear.

"boo." The effect was immediate, Red yelped, almost jumping out of his bones, falling back onto the couch seat with a soft thud and a loud groan. Sans glared at him.

"Pap! Really? He's stressed out enough already!" Papyrus grinned.

"sorry bro, can't miss a prank or pun whenever I get the chance." He looked down at Red, who was glaring fiery daggers at him. Papyrus noticed him trembling slightly, but ignored it. "sorry, red! didn't mean to jump your bones too hard."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Red shouted back. Papyrus mock frowned.

"hey, come on man, tone down the language." Papyrus glanced pointedly at Sans. "pure souls are listening in." Red glared harder, growling under his breath.

"Like I care! Get out of my face." Red tried to push Papyrus away, but he obviously wasn't strong enough, leaving Papyrus perfectly in place over him.

"aw… i think 'grumpy' would suit you more, red." Red _actually_ hissed at that. Oh my god, this was hilarious. Papyrus battled through chuckles. "what if i said i might be able to get you back to your place?" Red stopped trying to push him away, eye-ridge quirking while his fangs remained bared. Got him.

"How?"

"I know a guy." Papyrus drew himself up to full height, shrugging nonchalantly. "might take me a while to find him though." Sans chirped in.

"Yeah, and you need some time to heal naturally. However, you got here, you won't be able to get back safely like you are now." There was a pause, then Red sighed.

"… _Fine_ , whatever!"

Sans and Papyrus smiled at themselves, Sans practically beaming with stars in his eyes. Papyrus was altogether calmed, sighing inwardly. He really hoped this wasn't more trouble than it was worth.

And so, that was how he and Sans started living together with a red, grumpy, clone Sans from another world.

* * *

 **Hi everyone! OMG why are you all reading my trashy fic!? XD Well, anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. Thanks to all the reviews on the last one, you guys give me life! Expect more cuteness next chapter! ~Caz.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi again everyone! Really, I can't thank you guys enough for the support! It brightens my day immeasurably and keeps me writing! Anyway, this could be considered Part 1 of a longer chapter which I cut in half because otherwise it was going to be way too long and confusing! The next chapter should be out consequently tomorrow or the day after. Hope you enjoy the cuteness!**

* * *

 _I REGRET EVERY-FUCKING-THING!_

Sans was laid out on the couch, tossing and turning under his blankets, trying to figure out when all his life decisions had gone so wrong. He could think of many times, but by _far_ the most prominent was when he relented in staying with Blue and the Bastard. Sans blamed his poor judgement on the existential crisis he was having at the time.

Sure, on the outside, it looked like a pretty sweet deal. A place to sleep so he didn't die of exposure, free food and all the time in the world. What self-respecting monster _wouldn't_ be tempted by that kind of offer? However, it hadn't taken 2 measly hours for the entire thing to be soured.

* * *

It'd all started when Blue offered to cook. Sans was, of course, automatically suspicious. After all, poison was a favourite method of dusting amongst weaker, more intelligent monsters back in his Underground. Only after Blue had practically _begged_ for him to at least try and eat something – very _definitely not_ because he was embarrassed about his soul rumbling partway through a conversation – had he relented. He should have picked up on the way the Bastard glanced over at him, his expression reeking of pity, with a hint of hidden amusement twinkling in his pupils. In Sans' defence, he was still trying to nurse the terrible pain in his spine and had moved from existential crisis to culture shock as the Bastard turned on the TV and Sans found himself being sucked into a whole new world of programming.

After what Sans could only tell was a while, Blue came back into the living-room, two steaming plates in either hand and one balanced skilfully on the crown of his skull.

"FOOD'S READY!~ PAP, CAN YOU PICK YOURS UP?" Sans twitched. Honestly, Blue's excessive volume wasn't that shocking to him. In fact, he was getting used to it fairly quickly. It was just that every time he shouted, a part of Sans' mind would remind him of his Papyrus. And _that_ was what made him wince. Luckily, Sans was quickly distracted from his spiralling thoughts.

"thanks, bro." the Bastard said, smiling that stupid lazy smile of his and picking up his plate from Blue's skull. It was only now that Sans inspected the food more closely. It looked pretty unimpressive actually. It looked like some weird mutant sandwich with charred meat and some cheese slipped in the middle. Sans' face scrunched up and he turned his glare to Blue, who grinned back.

"What's _that_?" Sans pointed accusingly at the mutant sandwich. Almost immediately, Blue's jaw dropped and his eye-sockets widened, his pupils dilating until there was almost no black left in his sockets. Something in Blue's expression annoyed Sans. Like it was asking 'you _really_ don't know?'. As Sans opened his jaw to shout back at the unspoken insult, Blue drowned him out, his pupils bright stars.

"YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A TACO BEFORE!?" Sans twitched, closing his own jaw. Shit, he didn't think anyone could actually be _louder_ than his brother. Blue didn't seem to notice his reaction, lost in his own world. "OH WOW. WOW! I GET TO-"Blue was bouncing now, twirling around with the plates still in his hands. "I GET TO SHOW YOU!?"

While the Bastard chuckled at Blue's actions, Sans stared, dumb-struck by just how enthusiastic he was. Were those mutant sandwiches – apparently called 'tacos' – really _that_ great? Sans felt his soul beat a little harder in his ribcage and rumble quietly. Shit. Even the _mention_ of food was getting to him. Sans had to force himself to not drool. Back in his Underground, food was considered secondary to daily survival. He couldn't count the number of times Boss and him had to go without food when they were growing up. Even now, Sans was sometimes forced to starve with the time taken up by multiple working shifts.

Blue finished twirling, facing Sans again. He winked at him, giggling.

"AW, RED, YOU ARE GOING TO _LOVE_ THIS. I'M SURE OF IT!" Blue advanced quickly, placing one of the warm plates on Sans' lap. Blue grinned before sitting next to him with his own plate. He stared expectantly at Sans, his starry eyes showing no signs of fading. Sans huffed, glancing away from Blue's eyes and across the couch.

The Bastard sat on the arm furthest away from Sans. Good. That was just where Sans wanted him. Blue was strange enough, but the Bastard was a whole 'nother level of creepy. Sans' pupils twitched as he saw the Bastard take a small golden squeeze bottle from his hoodie pocket. Was that… _honey_? Sans forced himself not to gag. How could _anyone_ stand something so sickly sweet? The bastard opened the bottle, pouring a good half of it onto the taco. Oh come on! That was way too much!

Sans flicked his head back when the Bastard glanced at him. He could have sworn that he was smiling at him, like he _knew_ something. Sans looked down at his taco and his soul rumbled again. He coughed to cover the sound, reaching tentatively for the new food item. It felt warm in his hands and he could see small droplets of black sauce drip inside the casing as he moved the taco to his mandible.

For a moment the whole world went still as the taco was held in front of his open jaw. Blue and the Bastard were completely silent, probably staring at Sans like he was an idiot. Sans felt anger bite at his nerves. Screw this! He wasn't a baby-bones. A stupid mutant sandwich could never defeat him after all he'd lived through. He glared at the taco once more, before he took a large bite.

An explosion of sweetness hit Sans' taste-buds and in those moments everything seemed right with the world… then the world started burning. The initial sweetness was rapidly replaced by overbearing, all-consuming spice. Hot tears gathered in Sans' eye-sockets as he felt like his mouth was _literally on fire, holy fucking shit!_ Sans dropped the rest of the taco, bending double and chocking as the taco's deadly tendrils reached through his entire frame, setting every nerve aflame.

"OH NO!" Blue exclaimed, practically throwing his plate onto the couch next to him as he bent over Sans, skull glancing left and right in flustered panic.

"snk-! sorry red, i guess i forgot to says my bro like his food _hot_ buh-huh- BWAHAHAHAH! you must be pretty _burnt up_ about that!"

"PAP!" Blue turned to the Bastard, who was leaning on the back of the couch. His rib-cage heaving with the force of his laughter, tears of joy gathered in his eye-sockets. "THIS IS HARDLY A GOOD TIME TO LAUGH! WE NEED TO HELP HIM!"

Meanwhile, Sans felt his brief life flash before his eyes before the fire singed his mind too. Oh shit, oh _god fucking shit_! He was going to die. He needed something, _anything_ to stop the fire. He needed-

"…mustard." While he couldn't see it, he could feel Blue jump off the couch immediately, running for the kitchen. Within seconds he was back, holding a large yellow squeeze bottle in his gloved hands.

"SORRY RED, WE ONLY HAVE THE ONE SINCE NORMALLY NEITHER OF US US-" Sans ignored him, snatching the bottle away with the desperation of a dying monster. He clawed at the cap, tearing it off, and shoved the bottle into his mandible. The yellow viscous fluid fell into his mouth and almost instantly the fire calmed, ceasing its rampage. He continued sucking like a baby, gulping down the entire bottle in seconds. The Bastard was in hysterics, holding the side of his ribs and crying. Blue was almost in tears, looking up at Sans, who had fallen onto his side and curled up into a foetal position.

Sans could say, _for definite_ , that those moments were the worst in his whole life… well, okay not _the_ worst. But they were in the top 20! It'd taken hours for Sans to recover after that and he was _still_ hungry.

* * *

It'd only gotten worse. After the 'death taco incident' - as the Bastard fondly referred to it – Sans was finally able to get some sleep. As usual though, he only got 1 or 2 hours because of the nightmares that constantly plagued him.

He woke up early the next morning, his spine arching, cold sweats drenching his bones and tears running down his skull. He hadn't been able to get back to sleep after that and simply laid there for the rest of the day. Blue had been the first to come and see him, apologetic for the events of the night before. Although Sans wanted to shout at his clone, the way Blue looked at him so _pitifully_ made him restrain himself. Sometimes Sans was too magnanimous for his own good. Blue left soon after, spewing some stuff about going shopping and checking in on someone or other.

Sans had been perfectly content to lay on the couch, watching the TV until the Bastard came down.

"hey red. you doing alright?" Sans hissed back. _No_ , he was _not_ 'alright'! In fact, he was the exact opposite of 'alright'! What made it worse was that the Bastard just smiled at him, like his threat meant nothing. "good to hear. welp, i'm off! back later." Before Sans could ask where he was going – not like he cared really, it was just so he knew the Bastard wasn't ratting him out – he was gone. Sans hadn't even seen him go out the front door. Oh, well that was just _perfect_. No wonder they found him so fast. Jealousy bit at Sans nerves. He thought _he_ was the only one who could teleport and lo and behold not only could someone else do it, but it was the monster Sans hated the most.

Resentment and pain filled up the rest of those hours, as Sans continuously tried and failed to get any sleep.

Even his few forms of release had been ruined!

After the incident on his first night, Blue had gone out and stocked up on mustard bottles. Sans had almost cried when he saw them lined up neatly in the fridge. However, his joy was soon ruined. If he had to equalize it to alcohol, it was going from a fine malt whiskey to half-price over-the-counter beer. In short, it tasted _terrible_. But apparently it was the only type they had, so Sans decided he had to be a big monster and suck it up.

After a few days of sitting around, doing nothing, Blue had come up to him, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Um… Red? I-is it okay if I talk to you about something?" Sans' red pupils flicked away from the TV screen, where some dumb action movie featuring a blue electronic-music robot fighting a monster obviously covered in a sheet was playing. His pupils seized Blue's and Blue shrinked beneath them. Sans already had a bad feeling. He sighed, flicking his phalanges dismissively.

"Shoot." Blue nodded, taking a deep breath and shifting so his feet were shoulder width apart, ribcage pushed out slightly. When he spoke again, his voice boomed out as Sans had learned was his usual.

"OKAY! SO, I'VE BEEN NOTICING THAT YOU LIKE TO USE… _COLOURFUL_ LANGAUGE A LOT." Sans groaned, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"What the _fuck_ does that mean, Blue?" Sans locked eyes with Blue, glaring at him as he winced. He knew where this was going. "So, what…? You want me to start up a swear jar or somethin'? That's stu-" Sans was about to laugh derisively when Blue interrupted him, stars beaming in his eye-sockets.

"THAT'S IT EXACTLY! I KNEW YOU'D AGREE WITH ME!" Sans jaw dropped open. Wait, he was being _serious_?

"WHAT!? Wait, you gotta be kidding me!?" Sans couldn't believe it. _No-one_ had ever told him to not swear and here he was, being told not to by a by a baby-bones like Blue. Blue, seemingly oblivious, tilted his head in confusion.

"'KIDDIN'' WHY WOULD I KID ABOUT THIS? OH! ARE YOU PERHAPS REFERRING TO PAYMENT? WAIT A MOMENT!" Blue broke from the conversation, sprinting to the kitchen. After some clashing and banging, he returned holding an empty mason jar with a small slit cut into the lid. "HERE WE GO! OKAY, SO SINCE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY ON YOU AND YOU CAN'T WORK, I'LL PAY IT!" Blue put the large jar on the ground, burrowing around in his pockets until he found a small gold coin. He held the coin above the slit, grinning proudly up at Sans. "1 GOLD FOR EACH SWEAR!" Blue dropped the coin into the jar, which made a small clink at the bottom.

Sans' jaw remained wide open. So, wait. Blue expected him to stop swearing essentially out of the goodness of his own soul!? He would have laughed if he wasn't just so, so confused.

* * *

Sans sighed, turning around once more on the couch. It's been about a week since he'd been forced to start living with Blue and the Bastard. And already this new world was turning into a hellhole. In fact, the only _good_ thing was that his spine was mostly healing well and he could move now without pain or assistance.

He was just so, so tired and frustrated about everything. He growled, feeling tears threaten to overflow once again. Awh, _why_ did he have to be such a crybaby!? Self-hated flared through Sans' mind. He felt his eye-lids droop, slowly pulling him into dark sleep. And another nightmare.

* * *

 **Poor UF!Sans... anyway! Just some head-canon explanation for those that want it. In my head, the powers that UF!Sans and US!Papyrus have, i.e. teleportation and other things ;), are powers that are so rare that realistically only one monster per universe has them. Normally the monster that has such powers has some close connection to a certain void-being, as could perhaps be inferred from the case of UT!Sans and is explained later here. Anyway, this shared power is why US!Papyrus could, for example, track UF!Sans when he was using his teleport as he would know what that looks like and could follow the magical energy to the teleporter's location. No-one else would be able to do this unless they specifically trained to, which is why US!Sans wouldn't know about US!Papyrus', also, it is possible to block the magic signal to some extent and therefore prevent trackings, as US!Papyrus does when he teleports away here. Anyway, that's enough explanation. Hope you liked it and look forward to the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well! This is late *hides in a box*. I'm sorry, don't hurt me! Stuff is getting busy lately and this chapter too WAY more writing than I thought it would. This is undoubtedly the longest single chapter I have ever written for a story. Anyway, I want to thank all the people who have been leaving kudos here and comments! I really cannot thank you all enough! Hope you enjoy it and see you next time!**

* * *

All the nightmares started out the same. He'd wake up and he'd be with his brother. Sometimes in Snowdin Forest, sometimes in Waterfall and occasionally in their home. But it was always them as their younger selves and it was always in the third person, Sans watching the scene as if it were a movie. Papyrus looked 6 in the dreams, still just a baby-bone, bundled up in tattered scarves and vests to keep out the cold.

This time, Sans woke up and they were walking around Snowdin Forest. It was night-time. The ceiling crystals sparkled above them, covered partially by trees. Papyrus was walking ahead, glancing back impatiently on occasion and smiling at him.

" _COME ON SLOWPOKE, WE GONNA SEE THE THING!_ " Sans stayed quiet, but his younger dream self, who looked about 13, didn't.

" _Yeah, yeah, I know. Just wait a sec, would ya Pap?... It's dangerous here._ "

' _Pap', huh? Geez I haven't called him that since-_

" _I KNOW THAT ALREADY! COME ON BROTHER, WALK FASTER~"_ Young Papyrus whined, cheekbones puffing out in a pout. Both Sanses snickered at the image, the dream version picking up his pace and rubbing his phalanges on Papyrus' skull. " _OW, HEY! STOP~_ "

Dream Sans grinned wide, pointed fangs on full display.

" _Heh heh, my little brother is so cute._ " Young Papyrus growled, though it came out as more of a grumble.

" _I'M NOT 'LITTLE' OR 'CUTE'! I'M BIG AND STRONG AND ONE DAY I'M GOING TO FIGHT BAD GUYS AND PROTECT YOU!_ " Dream Sans only seemed to grin wider.

" _Oh yeah? Well-_ "

Dream Sans was cut off by rustling in the surrounding bushes. Sans seized up as if he were there. He knew instantly what was happening. They'd been spotted.

There was no time to react. Beast monsters leapt out of the bushes, grabbing Dream Sans and Young Papyrus and driving them hard into the snowy ground. Pain jolted through Sans' spine.

 _Shit!_ He hissed.

From the bush, a loud, stern voice spoke. Sans tried to locate the source, but found the speaker was obscured, shaded by the trees and night.

" _Are you guys retarded or something? Didn't your dad ever tell you not to wander off into the Forest alone at night… or anywhere else._ " Dreams Sans looked up from the snow and at that moment the shadows dispersed, revealing a huge armoured wolf-monster. He was one of the leaders of the Royal Guard, in charge of the beast section. An associate of their father, the Captain of the Royal Guard and Head Military Commander of the Underground, General Gaster.

" _Hey, come on!_ " Dream Sans tried to lift his skull further, but was pushed back into the snow by the weight of the pups on top of him. " _Pfft!_ " He spat out a piece of snow that had gotten into his mandibles _"We weren't hurtin' anyone Wolfston._ " Wolfston's pupils contracted and his maw twisted into a snarl. Sans unconsciously winced.

" _WHAT DID YOU SAY, RUNT?!_ " Wolfston turned to the pups, growling." _Lift him up!_ " The pups obliged immediately, lifting Sans from the ground and suspending him in the air. Wolfston closed the gap between them and leant down into Dream Sans' face, snout almost touching his skull. " _Did you just insult me, runt?_ " A chill ran down Sans' spine. Dream Sans stayed silent, red pupils shaking and soul beating erratically. Wolfston grinned, the action bearing his sharp canines. " _I think you did~ Well, we'll have to FIX THAT-"_

At that moment, time 's fist slowly rose from his side, aiming itself at Dream Sans. Instinctively, Sans reached out to block the blow, but instead felt some force oppressing him.

 _Shit!_ He knew what was going to happen next. Sans started begging. _NO! Please, not again! Please, I can't-!_ Sans felt himself get sucked towards his dream counter-part, the dream rapidly switching from third person to first as now Sans was forced to watch from his younger self's eye-sockets. Time sped up.

Wolfston's fist charged forward, connecting with Sans' ribcage. The pain was immediate and Sans could feel it just as much as his Dream counterpart. They both hacked, the Dream counterpart coughing up a globule of condensed red magic. "-won't we?" Wolfston grinned manically above him. "It's _Lance-Corporal_ Wolfston, runt!". Sans was still coughing, trying desperately not to retch. Flurried thoughts ran through Sans' mind, activating every survival instinct and working every nerve into overdrive. Pain flared through Sans' body, his soul screaming.

 _Run! Run! RUN! RUN!_

"Stop coughing, runt!" Another punch, directly to his skull. Both Sanses cried out in agony, feeling the bone splinter and crack around his eye-socket. His soul's cries grew more frantic, yet dimmer as it started to fade with his consciousness. He was going to die. He needed to teleport out!

But he couldn't. He couldn't leave his brother behind. Who _knows_ what they would do to him!? But he couldn't teleport them both out either. He was just too… _weak_.

"NO! LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE! _PLEASE!_ "

Wolfston spun around, brow drawn up. Behind him, Young Papyrus was glaring, only just able to shift his skull enough to see. His pupils were shaking but his jaw was set in a grimace of determination. Sans' soul froze. There were unspoken laws in the Underground. Ones that should never be crossed if you wanted to survive more than a few measly seconds.

'Don't stand up to someone stronger than yourself' was one of them.

Wolfston brought back his head and started howling with laughter, chest heaving under his armour. The cackle resounded off the trees, echoing around the whole forest.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Y-YOU! _You_ r-really think you can say that!" He chuckled, predatorial red eyes locking onto Papyrus' trembling pupils. His maw twisted, his teeth bared. "Let him up!" The pups obeyed, backing off towards the trees, staring intently at the scene. Papyrus coughed, taking deep breaths as he forced himself to stand on trembling legs. Sans struggled desperately against the pups still holding him, but they just tightened their grasp, snickering to themselves.

 _No, no, no, no!_

Wolfston continued, pacing leisurely towards Papyrus. "Now this is what I was looking for!" He smiled at Papyrus with a hint of respect. "Hey baby-bones! You must think you're pretty cool right now, standing up for your brother?" Wolfston chuckled.

Rage pooled in Sans' soul. He wanted to break that motherfucker's face. But that rage quickly turned to self-hatred as despair seeped into him, reminding him that he _couldn't do anything_. That he couldn't do anything right. Ever.

"That's so… cute." Wolfston had closed the gap, now towering above Papyrus, at least double his height. Papyrus didn't seem to care, glaring resolutely up at the wolf-monster, tears threatening to fall. He snarled, phalanges curled into small fists at his sides, twitching. "Aww~ Did I make the little baby-bones mad?" Wolfston loomed over Papyrus. "Is he going to cry for his hotshot daddy to come and save him?" He smiled. "Come on kid, you know you wanna. Cry. Cry out for help. Cry for your big _strong_ brother to save you and see where that gets you."

Papyrus broke another of the unspoken laws. His expression fell, determination fading as he looked over at Sans, his soul reaching out to him, silently begging for help. Sans' soul wrenched. Wolfston didn't waste a second, swinging a paw at Papyrus' skull. Black claws scraped along Papyrus' right eye-socket, leaving behind deep groves. The force of impact sent Papyrus flying backwards, smashing into a nearby tree-trunk. Papyrus screamed, his wails curdling Sans soul. Dream Sans reached out, calling his brother's name, not even trying hide his hysterical sobs.

Wolfston brought his head up to laugh, but stopped as he took in air. Instead of a laugh, he let out a surprised gurgle and forced his head down to see a jagged bone sticking into his chest, piercing his armour and soul and re-emerging out his back. "Ghk…!" More bones appeared from the snowy ground where Papyrus had once been standing, each one finding the gaps in the wolf-monster's armour and piercing through. 5. 10. 15 bones pierced through Wolfston's body.

Sans had seen the image a million times before, etched deep into his mind. But even now it shocked and disgusted him. But not as much as the image of Papyrus, laying on the ground, magic running down the right side of his face with both hands outstretched, controlling the bones. And he was smiling.

Sans distantly felt himself being dropped as the remaining pups ran off, useless without their commanding officer. Wolfston, still clinging onto life, looked down at Papyrus. Despite everything, he smiled at him.

"Now… that's… your father's… son." Wolfston's body collapsed into dust, the bloodied bones now stabbing through nothing but empty air.

Dreams Sans scrabbled towards Papyrus, sliding to his side.

"Pap! Are you alright!?" He tried to take him into his arms to assess the damage. But Papyrus pushed him away, growling and glaring at him, red pupils blazing in quiet rage.

"GET OFF ME!" Dream Sans, shocked, complied, shifting away from Papyrus as he stood up, leaning heavily on the tree-trunk. His legs trembled, but Papyrus fought through it, hissing, squinting his eye sockets to stop the tears. He looked away from Sans and Sans felt his soul freeze.

He'd experienced this scene a thousand times before, but still the same thoughts ran through his head. He had to apologize. He had to tell Papyrus that he was sorry for being so cowardly and weak and-

"B-bro, I-" He stammered.

"SHUT UP, YOU USELESS INGRATE!" Papyrus spun around and now he was no longer his young self. He wasn't Papyrus, his brother, anymore. Now he was Boss.

Sans yelped, curling in on himself, covering his skull with his arms.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry Boss, I-"

"BE QUIET! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU UNDERSTAND?! YOU'RE WEAK AND COWARDLY AND FAT AND STUPID AND ABOVE ALL LAZY!" Each word set Sans' body ablaze with pain. His soul began screaming and he started whimpering, curling in further, trying to make himself as small as possible. The forest around them dissolved and in the place of the dark tree-trunks, silhouettes appeared, taking the shape of a thousand monsters. Some Sans knew were still alive, being his active tormentors in his waking life, like Undyne and the attack-dogs. Others though, the more disturbing ones, were just shambling corpses of past horrors, eye whited out.

"Useless." Undyne cackled, summoning her spear and pointing it at Sans soul. Sans shifted back.

"Stupid." Alphys, with her abomination in tow, followed, bringing out a vial of some poison from a belt around her waist. She stared at Sans, her eyes hidden behind swirling glass lens.

"red…wake…"

"RUNT!" Sans attention was drawn away from the voice by the loud howl of Wolfston, the attack dogs obediently following behind his corpse, still marked with all the holes his brother had put through him. He lunged at Sans, fist ghosting through his face, along the crack his punch had left behind. Sans screamed, shuffling backwards. He bumped against something and looked up to see a tall, dark figure in a general's uniform.

"…" The figure didn't speak, but smiled down menacingly at him, baring his pointed teeth. Empty eye-sockets glared down, penetrating deep into his soul.

"Red!...me…Blue!" The voice was louder now. Sans flicked his skull from left to right, trying to identify the source, but stopped when his eyes met his brother's. Papyrus was looking down at him, red pupils flickering. The individual words now started to meld together, creating a droning clash of hatred.

"Useless. Coward. Fat. Stupid. Better off dead. Wasted soul. Good-for-nothing."

Sans couldn't break eye-contact with his brother. Sans started to choke, feeling magic tighten around his throat. He tried to tear the force away, but his hands just phased through. And the grip only tightened. The droning kept getting louder and louder, monsters across the whole forest screaming curses and insults and threats.

Red burst into tears, forcing his eyes shut and covering his skull.

"NO! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M-"

"RED! WAKE UP!"

Suddenly, the shouting stopped as the voice echoed deep in Sans' mind. Sans snapped his eye-lids open, gasping. The first thing he saw was Blue, standing above him. The nightmare was over… for now. And Sans felt so relieved he could die.

* * *

Ever since he arrived, Sans knew Red was having a difficult time. He might be optimistic (as every great guardsman should be, mweheheh!) and maybe a little inexperienced, but he wasn't blind. That was part of why Sans wanted to help Red so much. Sans wanted to help people anyway; that was one of the main reasons he wanted to join the royal guard. Somehow though he could tell Red was different… yet similar?

Sure, they weren't the _exact_ same; anything more than a cursory glance could tell you that much. But Sans felt a strange kinship with Red. It was so different to the feelings he had towards his brother or Undyne and Alphys or any other monster in the Underground. They were similar physically, less so mentally and then there was this… _gap_. A disconnect that couldn't be crossed and yet felt so small.

Maybe it had something to do with that strange blue mass they saw? He'd asked Papyrus about it, but, as usual, Papyrus was vague, saying it was 'not an problem, bro' and 'wouldn't you rather go training with alphys?'. Sans wished he could believe that. Don't get him wrong! He trusts Papyrus 1000% and that will _never_ change! But he couldn't help thinking that Papyrus was hiding something from him. He didn't know why he would do that but he… he just had a feeling he was.

It was a feeling that woke Sans up partway through the night. It'd been a long day of training with Alphys, going into the finer points of which meat took spices better. Apart from that, Sans had been brainstorming the whole week about how to make Red more comfortable. He'd turned down the spice in his food significantly and tried making new things. It was working too! Though Red still refused to eat his tacos (a fact he would soon rectify with version 32.0), he seemed to like other savoury foods. Sans smiled, fondly remembering how Red had practically shoved an entire plate of breaded chicken (with mustard) down his open jaw. At least his weight was becoming healthier.

Sans yawned, his slightly over-sized 'cool dude' nightshirt slipping down his clavicle. He looked over at the wall-clock. 3.17 AM. Sans' pupils widened. Stars, he was an early riser, but not _this_ early! He sighed and then smiled to himself. Oh well! No better excuse to get a hot chocolate, right? He swivelled his hips, placing his feet on the carpet and swinging the rest of himself out of his awesome crane bed. He hummed a tune quietly, walking past his battle body, placed neatly on an armour rack Undyne had found in the junkyard, and out into the corridor.

The house was pitch black, though Sans didn't need much light to find his way around. Regardless he concentrated his magic, feeling a spark as his pupils started to glow, sending out a soft, blue light. Sans hummed in triumph. There! Sans continued onwards, still humming the upbeat tune as he made his way to the stairs.

Then the moaning started.

Well, 'moaning' wasn't really accurate. It was more of a mixture of loud groaning, sobbing and eerie keening. Sans jumped, startled into full alertness by the suddenness of the noise in the comparative silence of the house. At first he was convinced one of the Blooks had decided to come play a prank, but quickly recognized the deep register of the voice.

 _Red!_ Sans sprang into action, fumbling down the stairs as fast as he could and running into the living-room. Red was lying on the couch, his spine contorted into a very painful-looking arch. His eye-sockets were closed, but Sans could clearly see the tears streaming down his skull, illuminated by the fiercely glowing red pupils underneath. Sans' soul dropped. He'd seen this enough times with Papyrus to know. Red was having a nightmare. Sans frowned, eye-sockets drooping. He couldn't help but pity Red and his brother for the pain they felt, but more than that he felt angry at himself. How could he call himself 'great' if he couldn't even protect those closest to him?

"…no…bro" Sans was pulled back into reality by Red's keening, now turned into barely audible mumbles "…p-please…". Sans' pupils dilated, before he narrowed his eye-sockets, determination spreading through his bones. This was no time for self-doubt! He had a monster to save, after all!

Sans approached Red, reaching out for Red's clavicles. He moved decisively, yet cautiously. Experience with Pap had taught him that a monster didn't always have complete control of their magic when they were in acute distress. He rested his phalanges on the bones. He could feel Red trembling beneath him and the trembles of his soul, beating furiously and screaming out. Another pulse of determination filled Sans and he gripped Red, gently shaking him.

"Red. Hey, wake up." The keening intensified; the red light from Red's closed eyes now illuminated the space around them both.

"stop!" Red groaned. Sans persisted, shaking harder now.

"Red! Come on! It's me. It's Blue!" Red just got louder, struggling in Blue's grip. The red light now started to pull at Sans, nipping at his clothes and bones. Sans' soul started pounding. If this got any worse, Red might unintentionally let out attack magic. Sans gulped, then nodded to himself. Red would probably hate him for it later, but he _had_ to do it. He took a deep breath and-

"RED! WAKE UP!" he shouted, shaking Red like a ragdoll.

Red inhaled sharply, jolting upright, forcing Sans to release him and step back. Red coughed violently, taking in deep breaths like he'd just come up for air from drowning. After a few, dreadfully silent seconds, Red looked over at Sans, blood-red pupils glowing fiercely. His expression was blank, uncomprehending. Sans started talking, remembering how he'd dealt with Papyrus before. He showed his bare palms to Red so he knew he meant no harm.

"I'm sorry Red. It's just that you wouldn't wake up and you were having a nightmare and I wanted to help you an- OOMPH!" Suddenly, Red threw himself at Sans. He burrowed his skull into Sans' sternum and flung his arms around Sans' ribcage, balling his phalanges into the back of his shirt. A few moments later, Red broke down into loud, broken sobs, tears soaking Sans' shirt. For what must have been a minute, Sans froze. Everything he thought he knew about Red crumbled before his eyes and suddenly he didn't care about where Red had come from or who he really was. All he cared about was helping him and making him feel safe. He slowly reached his arms around Red, resting them on his back. Red twitched, like he was anticipating some attack, but quickly settled again, letting everything out. Sans smiled, holding Red close. He shifted from one foot to the other, gently rocking the pair as he quietly shushed and rubbed small circles into Red's spine. He cautiously reached out with his soul as well, sending calming beats to Red's own trembling one.

"Shh…it's okay... you're safe now… shh-shh." Red continued to cry, but slowly, as time went by, he stopped trembling as much and the sobs reduced to occasional hiccups. Eventually, the crying stopped altogether and Red simply laid limply in Sans' arms. The earlier intensity of the atmosphere completely disappeared, replaced with a calm, serene air. Sans began to let out a long sigh.

"hey bro."

"STARS!" Sans' swore his soul nearly leapt out of his ribcage as a familiar deep voice declared its owner's presence behind him. Sans' skull spun around, glaring half-heartedly behind him where Papyrus stood in his baggy grey jogging trousers and black sleeveless shirt, pupils glowing a soft orange.

"Geez, Papy! You are being very unhelpful right now." He whined, trying to resist a smile. Honestly, he was glad Papyrus was here.

Papyrus smiled lazily, chuckling. "aw. you wound me." Sans crooked an eye-ridge. Papyrus laughed. "seriously! i'm _ulna_ lot of pain now." Papyrus scrunched up his expression, placing his hand over his soul. Sans snorted. Darn him if his brother didn't have a timing… even if his jokes were a bit dire.

Papyrus chuckled, skull relaxing again into a soft smile. "i even made cocoa." At that moment, a tray began to slowly drift out of the kitchen, surrounded by a thin film of orange magic. Lo and behold, three steaming mugs sat on the official NTB-brand tray, each piled high with marshmallows, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Sans' pupils widened. It was one thing for him not to notice Papyrus coming down the stairs, but how had he done all _that_ without him hearing _anything_?! Sans shook the questions from his mind, deciding now was not the time to be asking them.

Instead, Sans nodded sagely, coming to an important judgement. He was appeased. Papyrus grinned.

"trade you?" Papyrus glanced over and Sans followed his gaze to Red, who was still leaning into Sans' sternum, unmoving except for the occasional tremble. Sans nodded wordlessly. Honestly, Sans doubted he could lift Red up the stairs on his own. Not when his levitation magic hadn't been fully replenished yet.

The brothers moved together, Papyrus stepping forward as Sans stepped back. It was almost a seamless transition and now Red was leaning into Papyrus' ribcage as Sans grabbed the tray, the orange film evaporating away to let him take the full weight.

"Mmmhm…" Grumbling started sounding from in front of Papyrus and the brothers watched as Red, who apparently hadn't fallen back asleep, reached around Papyrus, trying to reassert the hold he'd previously had on Sans. Sans fought the 'aww' in the back of his mind, settling for a grin instead. Papyrus grinned down at Red, whose eye-ridges crinkled as he kept patting around with his arms.

"aw. i didn't know you felt that way about me red." Instantly, the patting stopped and Red's eyes flew open again, looking up at Papyrus. His red pupils contracted, shaking as his whole frame started trembling in absolute terror. Papyrus twitched. He stepped back, letting Red see him better. "woah, woah. hey it's okay. it's me."

It took a few moments, but Red slowly seemed to recognize who was in front of him. Red growled, though it was half-hearted.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Sans internally tallied another gold coin for the swear jar. Papyrus smiled, nonplussed.

"no reason." Papyrus shrugged. "but now that i'm here…" Papyrus slowly began to reach down. Red twitched back, making to shuffle away, but Papyrus suddenly swooped down, shocking Red long enough to pick him up in his long arms. He straightened, now holding an indignant Red with both arms under his scapulas.

"HEY!" Red instantly started struggling, flailing his legs uselessly as he tried to claw Papyrus' arm bones. "Put me down you bastard!" 2 Gold. Papyrus chuckled, a hint of mischief entering his voice.

"no can do red." Ignoring the scratches, Papyrus readjusted his hold, keeping one arm curled around Red's spine while the other trailed down, holding him under his legs, pulling Red up next to him in a sort of hug. "'sides, you look _bone tired_." Sans groaned internally. Slowly, Red's movements became less flurried. His arms reached around Papyrus' cervical vertebrae, clawing at his shirt in what was probably meant to be a painful way. However, the movements were half-hearted, devolving into fiddling and eventually Red just balled his phalanges in the material, sighing against Papyrus' sternum in apparent defeat.

Wow, he really must be exhausted! Sans knew Red and Papyrus hadn't exactly gotten off on the best foot, so seeing something like this was encouraging for him. It filled with him hope that, in the end, they could all be happy.

"good grumpy…" Papyrus murmured, petting Red's skull. Red flinched away, but only grumbled in response, too tired to speak. Papyrus turned to Sans, smiling lazily down. Sans nodded, giggling.

"OKAY! LET'S GO!" Sans lead the charge, brushing past Papyrus and Red to reach the stairs. Papyrus followed after, holding Red firmly. "WE'RE GOING TO MY ROOM! I'M POSITIVE YOU'LL LOVE IT THERE RED! IT'S GOT A COOL CRANE BED, AND BATTLE FIGURINES AND AN AWESOME SKELETON FLAG AND EVERYTHING!" Only mumbles answered him, but he took them as encouragement and continued, dashing up the rest of the stair-case and rushing to his room, careful not to tip or spill the drinks on the tray. He rushed into the room, placing the tray onto his bedside table and turning on the lamp before running over to the small bookcase against one wall of his room, glancing about until his pupils fixed upon his favourite story book; 'Peek-a-Boo with Spunky Squirrel'. He grinned, grabbing the worn tome and running back to the bed. By now, Papyrus had caught up, delivering his payload to the bed with a soft thump.

Red grumbled, sitting up. Sans palmed the book to Papyrus, who took it without a second thought, and grabbed one of the mugs, offering to Red. Red stared at him for a long moment, either assessing his motives or slowed by his exhaustion. Regardless, he slowly reached forward, taking the cup in trembling hands. Sans nodded encouragingly, letting Red take the full weight of the mug. Red glanced at the toppings and the brown liquid underneath and then at Sans, who nodded again.

"IT'S ALRIGHT! IT'S JUST COCOA! YOU'VE HAD HOT CHOCOLATE BEFORE, RIGHT?" Red glared back at the cup, seemingly trying to burn holes into it with his pupils. Eventually though, he sighed, taking a deep breath and bringing the cup to his mandibles, slowly sipping it. The air was thick with tension.

"Blech…" Red's faced scrunched up in disgust, bringing the mug away. Sans soul dropped and he visibly slumped.

"O-OH… I'M SORRY RED… I FORGOT PAPYRUS MAKES IT QUITE SWEET…" Red flinched, pupils dilating.

"N-no!" he exclaimed, stammering. Sans looked up to see Red holding the mug close to his ribcage. "I-it's not _that_ bad! It's j-just!... um…" Sans literally went starry-eyed, grabbing his own mug and scrabbling onto the bed. He climbed over Red, settling down against the wall on Red's right-hand side.

"I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT!... BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN THE BEST PART OF THIS IMPROMTU SLEEPOVER!" Red tilted his skull and Sans nodded over to Papyrus, who waved the book. Red scoffed.

"Oh, what? Story-time? _Really?_ "

"OF COURSE! IT'S WHAT BROTHERS DO!" Red suddenly flinched, gripping the mug harder. Sans cursed himself. He'd been insensitive again. He didn't know the details, but obviously Red was nervous about his brother being mentioned. Maybe it had something to do with the nightmare? "AH! IT'S ALRIGHT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO! IT'S JUST… IT ALWAYS HELPS ME GET TO SLEEP WHEN I HAVE NIGHTMARES, YOU KNOW? MAYBE IT WOULD HELP…?" There was a pause, then another scoff.

"Fine… sure. Whatever." Red took a hearty gulp from the mug, skull contorting before settling again. "Get on with it."

Papyrus chuckled, nodding.

"whatever you say m'lord." Papyrus grabbed his own mug, taking large sip before approaching the bed. "budge up." Surprisingly, Red complied, shuffling closer to Sans, allowing Papyrus to slip into the bed. It was a tight fit with three monsters, but it didn't actually feel too bad. Gulping down the last of his cocoa, Papyrus coughed dramatically, placing his mug back on the tray, Red scoffed again, growling quietly.

Then Papyrus started, reading in a slow, yawning voice.

"once, there was a small, spunky, brown squirrel that lived in an old oak tree. he liked to spend his days gardening, or travelling from village to village, or playing with his friends. but what he liked most of all was playing his favourite game 'hide-and-seek' with his best friend, fluffy the bunny…"

* * *

It wasn't five minutes later before quiet snores filled the bedroom. Papyrus looked down at the sleeping figures of Red and Sans. The former had curled in on himself, his mug resting mostly empty by his side while the latter curled around him, forming a protective barrier. Papyrus chuckled. Story-time; it never failed.

Papyrus quietly reached over, putting Red's and Sans' mugs back safely on the tray. He put the book down as well and then finally turned back to the two Sanses by his side, observing them, holding himself up on one elbow. He couldn't help but smile, though that soon disappeared, replaced by a soft frown.

It'd been a week since Red had arrived and in that time Papyrus had been working his coccyx off. Well, except when he was on a smoking break.

His first stop hadn't been difficult to identify. He'd just gone to the usual place; back in the old science lab.

Dad, as usual, was incredibly happy to see him, showering him with hugs and offering him some freshly-baked cookies. He'd been really happy, blue and orange cheek-bones glowing until Papyrus had told him about Red. Gaster's gleeful expression dropped. He frowned.

"Oh…"

"oh? what do you mean 'oh'?" Gaster grit his teeth, sucking on them to concentrate.

"I thought this would happen eventually… they really should put some labels on those control panels." Then Gaster had finally explained.

He explained how Red didn't just look uncannily like Sans, but that he _was_ Sans… from a different universe. Gaster told him that Red's universe, nicknamed by the community as 'UnderFell', had recently been disrupted when a new void-being had set off a portal that sucked Red into their universe. The explanation wasn't quite so simple, but Papyrus had worked long enough with his time-space-hopping father to cut through the scientific and multiverse jargon.

"but there's a way to get him back, right?"

"Of course!" Gaster shot back, stopping himself in the middle of one of his ramblings about the void community. "I should be able to open another portal to that Sans' universe, given a bit of time."

"and until then?" Gaster smiled gently at Papyrus.

"Look after him. I don't want to invade his privacy by telling you everything, but he has a pretty hard time back home with his Papyrus." Gaster fixed Papyrus' pupils with his own, his heterochromatic pupils forcing Papyrus to keep looking. "Until I can get the portal working, I think it would be best to keep him in your care. Can you promise me that?"

Papyrus had sucked his teeth, hissing around the lollipop in his mouth. He hated making promises. He paused, then relented, shrugging.

"fine. but get that portal up quick, alight? we finally have a stable timeline and i don't want some alternate universe brother messing it up." Gaster nodded and that had been the end of it.

Now it was a week later and Papyrus had heard nothing bad from his father. He presumed that he was just taking a while to configure the settings, but, knowing his dad, he was probably just procrastinating.

Papyrus was brought back into awareness by Red, who shuffled around, skull scrunched up as he tried to get comfortable. Papyrus sighed. He knew Red had been having a tough time sleeping since he got here. When Papyrus couldn't sleep, which was often thanks to his frequent nightmares, he would open his room's window and smoke continuously for hours, listening to the sounds of the house. He'd often hear Red's whimpers and sobbing but had chosen to ignore it. If Red was only going to be here for a while, he didn't want to get involved in something he shouldn't be. After all, he'd finally been granted happiness, so why should he jeopardize it for a monster he didn't even know?

That was what he thought, until he heard his Sans clamber down the stairs and comfort Red. He'd teleported down, watching Sans rock Red in his arms, comforting him like he had done with Papyrus so many forgotten times before. At that moment, Papyrus had felt a tremor in his soul. What would Sans say if he knew his brother was turning his back on someone that needed help?

Papyrus had decided then that, for as long as Red remained in their universe, he would treat him as a member of the family, as he had promised.

Red shuffled again, grumbling as he tried to shimmy off his thick jacket. Papyrus snorted. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Red without his jacket since he'd arrived. Sans would probably complain about the smell soon. Papyrus moved slowly, grabbing the top of the fur-lined jacket, pulling it off Red. As he did so, Red's blood-red jumper rode up, revealing part of his spine and rib-cage.

Papyrus' pupils contracted and rage blasted through his bones. The bones were covered in a mish-mash of scars and old wounds, showing a deep red against the stark white of the bone. Papyrus could only seem a small section, but he could bet that the rest of Red was similarly marked. So _this_ was what Gaster meant by 'a hard time'? How could _any_ Papyrus be capable of doing something like _this_ to his brother, the one he should love most in the whole Underground!?

Rage seethed in Papyrus' soul and for a moment his pupils glowed bright orange.

"Mmm! P-pap…" Immediately, the flame fizzled out and Papyrus looked down at Red, who must have sensed his anger as a threat. Papyrus sighed, forcing himself to relax. He threw the jacket behind him, not caring where it landed. He focused his hearing, settling on the beats of Red's soul, loud and uneven. He reached into his own soul, taking a deep breath before he slowly amplified his own beat, reaching out to Red's soul. This always calmed him down when Sans did it. So now it was time to return the favour.

Red's soul instantly clung to the calming aura, pushing towards him before stopping. The souls were out of time at first, but slowly, steadily, Red's soul synched itself to Papyrus', beating in unison. Red's face relaxed immeasurably, letting out a huge sigh like the weight of the world had rolled off his clavicles. Papyrus grinned. Good.

As time went by, Papyrus slowly began to relax himself, the plushness of the bed and the combined warmth of the three brothers settling deep into his bones. He started to struggle to keep his eyes open, but just as he felt himself drift off, he felt a small bony hand grasp his. He looked down and found that Red had reached out, much like his soul, and grabbed onto the other two brothers' hands. He wasn't holding them too tightly and Papyrus knew he could shift away if he wanted. But the ghost of a fanged smile kept him transfixed and he simply relented, flicking off the light with his magic and settling into the sheets.

Heh. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all.

* * *

 **Welcome to head-canon end slate! XD**

 **Anyway, for those who are curious, here's a small explanation of some details found in the Underswap universe. The song Sans is humming when he walks down the stairs is 'the song that might play when you fight Sans' from the original soundtrack while NTB stands for Napstabot.**

 **In my view of the multiverse, the universe act much like bubbles in an otherwise empty space. The air inside the bubbles is one universe (so Undertale, Underfell, Underswap etc.). The skin of the bubble is the Void. Each universe has their own void and each Void had their own Gaster or equivalent void-being, although some are not inhabited at all. The Gaster that inhabits this void is essentially the guardian of that Universe and has powers to manipulate not only his universe, but make connections between universes. The space between the bubbles is known as the Anti-void, which is only inhabited by beings such as Error!Sans and Ink!Sans. Anyway, so UT!Gaster is actually a fiarly new void-being, while Gasters such as those from Underswap are more experienced and actually know each other through what they call the Void Community, communicating across the anti-void.**

 **Anyway, that's a basic overview. Bye ~ Caz.**


	5. Chapter 5

***Dramatic Entrance* Mwahahaha! I return! *Silence* ...oh. Yep, sorry for the short absence everyone, things were really busy over here but now I am finally free and more stuff will be coming through! (If anyone actually likes this trash.) Anyway, enjoy! Read the end-slate for an important announcement.**

 **UPDATE: New content has been added to the end of this chapter!**

* * *

Papyrus was _not_ 'freaking out'. A commanding officer didn't have time for 'freaking out'. No, he was the exact opposite. He was calm, cool, collected.

"WHERE THE _**FUCK**_ IS THAT LITTLE BASTARD!?" Captain Papyrus roared, smashing a booted foot hard into one of the many trash-cans standing out the back of the murder-house they called Grillby's.

 _CLANG!_

The trash-can fell loudly to the floor, trash spilling out across the snow. Papyrus growled.

Okay, so _maybe_ he wasn't exactly 100% cool-headed right now. If he was being honest with himself though, he didn't know what he was feeling.

"RAARGH!" He roared again, kicking another trash-can and watching it fall to the ground with a now sizable dent in its side. His red pupils flared. This was all Sans' fault!

* * *

After reprobating his useless brother for his negligence at letting a _human_ escape him, Papyrus had returned home, frustrated. Normally, he would have wasted no time in searching for the human. But with a combination of the growing dark outside and his current mood he decided against it. Night-time in the Underground was incredibly aggravating. At night, some monsters would lurk around, and right now he didn't trust himself to not just kill something outright.

He also suspected that the human was more powerful than the ones he had heard about before. If Sans had really been telling the truth about him having special abilities and allies, it would be a foolish decision to rush forward with no forethought. And if Papyrus had learned anything from Alphys' constant ramblings about human souls, it was that humans, especially powerful ones, could be unpredictable. No, he had to be smart about this. Rest and plan.

So, he set about calming himself down. A few hours of practicing some new battle techniques on his war dummies in his garage later he felt himself return to a cooler state of mind. Some food and mindless TV later and he was almost feeling content. He wasn't worried about his brother, seeing as it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him to stay out until the early hours. By the end of the night, with no sight of his brother, Papyrus decided to be merciful and leave the front door unlocked, in case Sans returned the next morning.

The next day Papyrus awoke to a silent house and found that his brother hadn't returned. He wasn't concerned, or course. He was probably still sleeping in some alley somewhere, blacked out from his disgusting mustard-drinking habit. Anyway, without the distraction of his brother, the day had been very efficient.

He completed at least three full patrols of Snowdin and the surrounding forest by himself and had quietly sent the mutt guards to sniff around for any foreign magic traces. If this human could use magic, he wanted to know exactly how and what type it was. Of course, he hadn't told them about the human itself. No, the honour of catching the last human would be his and his alone. It was only a matter of time.

For he was Captain Papyrus the Terrible, leader of the Royal Guard and the 2nd most feared monster in the whole Underground! Only Overlord Asgore outranked him! His underlings always paid him compliments about how terrifying he was and how they could never hope to achieve a micron of the power and influence he possessed. Of course, it wasn't like Papyrus needed their petty words to tell him what he already knew.

He'd come home that night, bursting with energy. He raised one foot and kicked the front door in, allowing himself a satisfied smirk as he heard it bang loudly against the adjacent wall. Heh, he knew how to make dramatic entrance.

"SANS!" He yelled into the dark living-room. He paused… Nothing. He yelled again, scanning red pupils across the dark expanse, looking for the familiar outline of his short brother. "SANS! GET UP AND COME HERE YOU INSUFFERABLE LAZY-BONES!" Again… absolutely nothing.

No squeaking of rusty couch-springs, no grumbling, no 'yes, boss!'. Not even a 'what, bro?' that Sans let slip when he was half-asleep or feeling mildly defiant. Just stone-dead silence.

Papyrus' pupils dilated ever so slightly and he felt a strange pulling sensation in his rib-cage, telling what he already suspected. This wasn't normal. Even when Sans holed himself away for a whole day, Papyrus could always dimly feel the presence of his soul. But now, he couldn't feel anything. It was like his brother's presence had been entirely erased.

Papyrus wasn't the type of monster to do things three times. Doing something three times implied you were desperate, and Papyrus was never the type to lose his composure. So he'd simply gone looking for him. Not like he was concerned. He was sure he would find his brother eventually, probably sleeping off some hang-over.

* * *

Really, how hard was it to find _one_ monster!?

He'd spent the rest of the night searching, scanning every nook and cranny in their house, scattering everything that wasn't nailed down and generally making a horrible mess of the whole house. When that apparently failed, he'd started looking around Snowdin, scouring both the town and the forest. He'd even tried asking some of his minions about his brother's whereabouts (subtly of course). They turned up a blank, saying they hadn't seen 'that sleazeball' in ages.

Over the coming days, Papyrus' searches had become more frantic and painfully obvious. It had been a week since Sans' mysterious disappearance and Papyrus felt like a monster possessed. He couldn't work on capturing the human, his mind constantly wandering; he couldn't eat, appetite spoiled by a tight wrenching in his rib-cage that made him feel ill; he couldn't even sleep, awake till the small hours to hear if someone would come through the now permanently unlocked front door. He could hear monsters snickering behind his back. They called him 'obsessed', 'paranoid' and, worst of all, 'weak'. He knew they were all laughing. He suspected that Sans was laughing too, wherever he was.

To Papyrus' horror, he found he preferred that thought to the likely alternative.

Papyrus' fea- I mean _frustration_ only increased when he'd come across a strange clearing in the forest on his 44th search. Even compared to the rest of the dingy place, this clearing was a wreck. A large crater of missing snow stood in the centre, while all around it the pine-trees had been stripped bare of all bark and branches. A minuscule amount of red magic hung in the air and all of these observations made Papyrus' soul… quiver. Instinctively, Papyrus clenched his fist on his armour. Something had happened to Sans.

Finally, Papyrus was driven to do the impossible. He decided to go and ask around at Grillby's.

Papyrus took in a deep breath of cold air as he stares at the decrepit wooden door that lead into the 'restaurant' (he couldn't believe that such a place deserved that title). He watches the steam from his mandibles dissipate, focusing on it to try and steady the small quivering of his soul. Come on! You're Papyrus the Terrible! A place like this is nothing to you! Just ask then get out. Ask and get out.

He repeated the thought, treating it like a mantra as he straightened his spine and flared his pupils, setting his mandible into a snarl.

Cracking open the front door, all of Papyrus' senses were immediately assaulted by the overpowering stench of burning meat and grease. The smell clogged his throat, almost making him gag. He slouched, taking deep breaths to try and acclimatise himself. How could anyone even stand to be _in_ here, let alone eat!? After a few breaths, the initial wooziness subsided and he straightened again, pushing the door fully open and striding inside.

The building was cramped and dimly lit, smoke from a thousand different substances obscuring the area further. The smells of smoke and grease melded into an ungodly odour that constantly assaulted Papyrus' nasal aperture. Despite the dullness, Papyrus could sense the souls of the many different monsters that filled the building to breaking-point. Little groups hung around the dark corners of the room and in the small booths, squawking at each other while chewing on burgers and greasy fries.

Walking further inside, the conversations slowed and some stopped altogether as a hundred eyes began to follow Papyrus. Whispers began.

"Hey, isn't that the Captain?"

"Yeah, what's he doing in here. I thought he hated it here -"

" – 'THAT PLACE IS BELOW EVEN SWINE!' he said."

"Maybe he's gonna pick a fight with Grillby?"

" - better not try and spout some shit about us being lazy."

" – hear he's gone off his rocker – "

A shiver coiled up Papyrus' spine but he forced it down, walking past the booths and towards the bar at the back of the building.

As he approached the bar, he found he recognized some faces. On one side of the bar the entire mutt guard sat around a large round table, playing some variant of poker while Doggo made a crude anecdote about some 'big-titted bitch' he had seen in Waterfall. Sitting at the bar itself was Undyne, red high-heels placed on a chair next to her, drinking like a fish from a bottle of unknown liquid. She was cackling, swinging the bottle around, almost dropping it.

" – punted that little shit right into the trash pile. Teach him to ask me to join the royal guard, little dumb-shit no-arm kid." She glanced across the bar, settling her one good eye on the purple flame monster who was rubbing glasses with a dry cloth. "Know what I mean Grillbz?"

Grillby nodded, clearly not paying attention. As Papyrus took another step forward, everyone stopped and stared. Undyne's toothy smile disappeared, replaced with a snarl. Grillby, meanwhile, put the glass down and smiled at him – the flames around his mouth glowing brighter to indicate the expression.

"Well, if it isn't Captain Papyrus the Terrible!" Each word was laced with sarcasm, spit out with poisonous vehemence. Papyrus and Grillby had never gotten along. He hated abominations that Grillby called food and Grillby hated everything about him. "So, what are _you_ doing today in _my_ restaurant?" The white flames that represented Grillby's eyes flickered, while his mouth set into a sneer.

Papyrus cooled and he relaxed his shoulders which he didn't even know had been tensed. Now _this_ he could do. His mandible rose in an easy smirk, his pupils brightening. He brought his arms up in a shrug and shook his skull from side to side.

"I'd answer your question. I really would. But then I'd be admitting that the _stink-hole_ was a _restaurant_." He drew out the syllables, long and slow, exhilaration racing through his bones when Grillby's eye flared more, his flames quivering around him. Accompanied by small growls, Grillby spoke again.

"Oh. I am so _sorry_. If only I had remembered, you have such _fine_ taste. I bet your cooking would put _mine_ to absolute shame-"

"It would." Papyrus interrupted him. Grillby couldn't contain a small growl as his flames popped, singeing the edges of the bar. Papyrus chuckled, striding to the stool where Undyne had planted her feet. He glanced at Undyne and a yellow eye and eye-patch fixed onto his pupils. There was a beat. Then Undyne growled and swivelled, her heels dropping to the floor. Papyrus nodded and shifted onto the stool, ignoring the squelch as he sat down. "But I'm not here to talk about my superior cooking skills today." Papyrus paused, his confidence suddenly disappearing.

 _Shit_ , he was being pathetic! He took a deep breath, staring into Grillby's 'eyes'.

"Has my useless brother been here lately?"

A second passed. Two. Three. Then Grillby grinned.

Papyrus' soul dropped as Grillby tilted back his head and laughed, the sound echoing across the whole building. After a few moments, another voice followed. And another. Suddenly the whole establishment was resounding with cackles and giggles and guffaws. They were… _laughing_. At him. They were laughing at Papyrus the Terrible.

Grillby looked back at Papyrus, his body still shaking with mirth.

"You! Pwahah! You really said it!" Papyrus felt his skull flush red, rage and embarrassment clouding his mind.

"Said _WHAT_!?" Undyne chimed in.

"Cap, haven't you heard? Everyone's been makin' bets about when you'd come in here an' ask that!" Papyrus snapped his eyes onto hers, growling.

"And _**why**_ would you be doing that?" Undyne chuckled.

"Aw, com'on Cap, everyone knows you've been _freaking out_ about that retarded sleazeball for a week now."

In that moment, something snapped. Papyrus couldn't place what, but as soon as Undyne spoke _those_ words, he couldn't stop himself. His rage boiled over and, before he could think, he had gripped his magic tightly around Undyne's soul.

The fish monster chocked, clawing desperately at her armour, glaring wildly at Papyrus. Papyrus growled, standing up and lifting Undyne with him.

"DON'T." He lifted his left arm. "YOU." His pupils flared, the light so powerful it looked as if flames were coming out his eye-sockets. " _ **DARE**_." He concentrated red magic into his left hand. "SAY THAT ABOUT HIM!" His left fist flies towards Undyne's face. Helpless to stop the blow, Undyne takes the shot, full-force, in the face. Papyrus lets go of her soul, letting her fly across the room, slamming and crushing one of the booths. Screams started but Papyrus ignored them, spinning around on one heeled foot and striding towards the back door. Grillby simply stares after him, shocked into a rare silence. Papyrus pulled open the door, almost ripping it off its hinges as he dashes back out into the bitter snow.

Great. Just Great.

* * *

Glaring disdainfully at the two fallen trash-cans, Papyrus raised his gloved phalanges to his temples, rubbing them to try and placate his oncoming head-ache. He snarled.

Honestly, could this week get any worse!?

"Frdmm bcmm quetmmph!" Papyrus froze, pupils dilating. Immediately, he snapped his skull up from the ground, flicking it from left-to-right across the sea of overflowing and closed trash-cans. While he'd been too distracted to notice it before, there was certainly something strange in the atmosphere of this area. The presence was unlike anything he had ever felt before from any monster. The bitter wind around him was less biting than usual and maybe it was even slightly… pleasant?

He paused, straining his hearing to the limit. For a few moments, the only sound Papyrus could hear was the soft, rustling winter breeze and the beating of his own soul. However, as time passed he noticed another sound, muffled yet strong and regular.

 _Be-Bump…Be-Bump._

Papyrus quickly recognized the sound of another soul beating. His eye-sockets narrowed and he crouched low to the ground. Remaining absolutely silent, he placed one boot softly on the snow below him. Then another and another and slowly he began to advance towards the beating, the trash-cans acting like small sonars, directing him closer and closer.

"Whmmph did you… dpmm thamph?"

"He… sounmmtth mad."

Papyrus now could place not just one voice, but two. His soul started beating faster in his rib-cage. It couldn't be. It couldn't be _that_ easy? He continued to slink forward, his pupils eventually fixing onto a trash-can way at the back of the yard. Unlike all the others, which had been either overflowing or had the lid on, this one had the lid on the snow but wasn't full. The sounds of clumsy rustling of garbage and fumbling joined the beating of the soul and the voices.

That was when he saw it. A bright red soul, the lightest in hue that Papyrus had ever seen.

"Well, _I_ just hope they're gone. We've had enough trouble stopping those dumb mutts finding us!" The first voice was high-pitched, yet snarky, huffing in distaste at some obviously bad memory.

"I thought they were cute, they were fluffy!" The second voice was more relaxed than the first, speaking slower as if they had to remember the words they wanted to use on occasion.

"Yeah, they're cute, if you don't mind having your _arm_ bitten off!" The first voice huffed. Papyrus would have laughed if doing so wouldn't give away his position. Fate certainly had a sense of humour. Slowly, carefully, he raised one hand, stretching it towards the red soul, reaching inside himself. "Really, Frisk, you should learn to be more sceptical!"

"I don't even know what that word _means_ Flowey, but I've told you before I'm not going to hurt anyone!" Red magic fizzled through Papyrus' bones, reaching the tips of his phalanges before ebbing towards the trash-can.

"Pfft! Why are all you humans so darn _nice_!?" Almost there.

"Aw com'on! I'm sure we'll find someone to help us so-" Got 'em! Papyrus red magic finally reached the human soul and gripped onto it tightly. A familiar buzzing sensation thrummed through his hand as he saw the soul turn to his own shade. He grinned and flicked his wrist down, driving the soul's owner down with it. "Grck!"

"Frisk, what are you-!?" The trash-can, unable to take the force, slammed to the floor, dumping its load onto the floor. However, far from trash falling out, this time a small body rolled out, tumbling clumsily onto the floor. Papyrus extended himself back to full height, keeping his grip as he walked over to loom over the small body. The first thing he noticed was the body was unlike any monsters', the body didn't seem to be made of goo or covered in scales or fur or bones. Instead it looked more like some hairless, pink monkey with brown hair and a blue and purple striped jumper.

The second was a bright flash of gold petals and green vines that locked around the body's shoulders, moving to reveal a face.

"Frisk, what happened!? Are you alri-!" The animate flower looked up, finally noticing Papyrus' presence. The human looked up after him, large brown eyes staring up into Papyrus' red pupils. Mouth agape and eyes wide, the small child then completed the thought they were all thinking.

"Oh."

* * *

 **Welcome to the end-slate! *Cough* So yeah, sorry about the shorter and bad chapter but I was going through so much writers block and then I had to re-write this twice and then I was like 'this is terrible, but I can't think of how to make it better' and so this is the result! I hope you enjoyed it anyway and I'm sure it'll pick up next chapter!**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I've been re-reading my old chapters for this and have realised there are many, many small typos and errors. For these reasons I would like to reach out to those who read this for a beta-reader to help me with this story. The more experienced the better and I don't mind possibly having more than one. PM me if you are at all interested! Thank you for reading and see you all next time - Caz.**

 **HEAD-CANON: So yeah, say hello to Uf!Frisk and Flowey everybody! In this AU I imagine Frisk to be a bit younger than either their UT or US counterpart, probably about 8 while the others would be about 10 or 11. Hope you like these guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay for long night writing sessions! Hi again everyone! Here's the next chapter, which I am much more happy with than the last one! Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to comment; it's what keeps me going strong!**  
 **Also, still looking for a beta if anyone is interested!**

* * *

Game Over.

That was the one phrase that continuously ran through Flowey's mind as he helplessly sat atop Frisk's shoulders, trying desperately _not_ to have a breakdown. That, and a whole heap of other expressions for their imminent, and painful, demise.

They were going to be wearing pine overcoats. They were going to hop off the twig. They were going to be pushing up daisies. And why the _hell_ could he only think of ones to do with plants!?

Talking about terrible jokes, he blamed that sweaty trashbag for all of this.

* * *

Flowey had never had an easy existence. Which made sense, as being seemingly the only 'kind' thing in a world full of evil wasn't an easy role to put on anybody's shoulders- well, stalks. Most days, Flowey had simply stayed hidden deep in the Ruins, hoping beyond hope that another human didn't fall down into the Underground to inevitably meet their grisly doom. It had been at least a decade since the last human had fallen and the sixth human soul had been collected. Maybe there was some hope, Flowey had thought. Sadly, that hope had kicked him right in the petals when he'd seen Frisk fall out of the sky and into the awaiting patch of golden flowers.

From the start, however, Flowey had noticed that Frisk was unlike any of the other humans who had had the misfortune to fall into the Underground. For one thing, Frisk was so much smaller and weaker. When they'd woken up, they hadn't been able to even _move_ until Flowey administered some basic healing magic. When the small human had gotten up, Flowey noticed the second thing.

" _Hey Kid. You okay? Don't get up too fast._ " Flowey leant back, giving the child some room as they slowly shifted into a sitting position. Flowey watched as the child looked around, observing the Ruins for the first time. He was used to this behaviour from the humans when they had first fallen down. They would look around, realize they didn't know where they were and then promptly start looking for the exit.

However, this kid, after only a few seconds, stared right at him. For a few awkward moments their eyes were locked, brown irises against black pupils. A small voice crept out of the child's mouth.

" _You're… you're a flower?_ " Flowey was used to this too. He nodded. " _And you can talk?_ " Flowey nodded again. Any moment now, he expected a shrill scream as had happened so often before. He braced himself. As expected, the child emitted a loud noise. However, instead of a shrill cry of terror, it was more like an explosive yell. " _That's so COOL!_ " Eh?

That was the first time Flowey had been exposed to what he would soon discover was one of Frisk's defining traits. Their hopeless optimism and unquestioning trust in others. To call Frisk naïve was an understatement! It was like the kid had no sense of boundaries or danger _at all_ , as Flowey had quickly found when the human had hugged him so hard that they'd almost torn him up by the roots.

This had all activated something, something deeply buried in Flowey's soul. A will to protect. Flowey had palmed it off as a sort of break from his never-ending boredom at first and had taught Frisk the basics of the Underground and how their world worked. He'd even taught them some basic combat, although the innocent child seemed unlikely to be able to use any of it. He'd guided them through the Ruins, helping them solve the puzzles and hide from the monsters that could jump out at any moment. It wasn't until they'd gotten to the exit of the Ruins, and met the Toriel, that he'd noticed the third strange thing about Frisk.

Frisk and Flowey stood opposite the ex-Dark Empress Toriel, who herself stood in front of the small purple door that lead to the passageway to the rest of the Underground. Flowey couldn't help but feel his petals quiver as he looked up at the intimidating behemoth of a woman who could turn him to cinders in a snap of her fingers.

" _You humans are all the same. You come. You leave. You die. I should know, seeing as I killed a good few of you._ " Toriel smiled at Frisk, baring her fangs. " _You better not take even one more step, my child, or your end will not be painless._ "

Flowey spun his head to Frisk, who simply stared wide-eyed at what Flowey could only assume to be their death. Flowey ached through his whole body, remembering all at once why he'd stopped accompanying the fallen humans. Toriel was right. Frisk, however, must have thought differently, because their mouth set into a soft smile as they took a step forward.

" _Humph. Bravado, huh? Well, fine, prove to me you can survive outside these Ruins!_ "

Honestly, it had been the most anti-climactic 'fight' that Flowey had ever seen. He hesitated to even call it a fight because really, Toriel had been the only one to actually _do_ anything. Frisk had never even _tried_ to attack her. Instead, they'd just kept dodging her flames, aided by their small size and surprisingly good agility. In fact, the only time they had even touched Toriel was when they had hugged her around the waist, mumbling something like 'you don't have to be afraid anymore'.

On hearing those words, Flowey had felt a pulse of energy surge across the room. The surge was nowhere near as hot or powerful as the strong fire magic that Toriel wielded, but somehow it managed to overpower it like it had never existed, filling Flowey with some weird fluttery feeling. It was like new hope had cascaded down onto him like fresh, spring water. Whatever effect it had had on a being like him, that effect had been dialled to 11 for Toriel. She'd shuddered at first, then paused, staring down incredulously at Frisk who only snuggled deeper into her pelt. Then, she started to cry and hug Frisk back.

Flowey had to almost literally pick his jaw off the floor and that was when he had seen it. Close to Frisk's body stood a small red soul, the colour of the finest ruby. Flowey had understood then that this child was special. They'd left the Ruins with Toriel's blessing, unscathed and laden down with pie.

Flowey had decided to travel with Frisk after that, wrapping himself, with Frisk's permission, around the human's shoulders. He constantly nagged- I mean, _reminded_ them about the dangers of the Underground. He didn't want to take the risk of hoping that whatever move Frisk had performed in the Ruins would work on all monsters. He was sure he'd gotten through to them as well.

When they'd found the sweaty trashbag, snoozing fitfully at his station, Frisk had been initially hesitant to approach the sleeping skeleton guard.

" _Flowey?_ "

" _Yeah?_ "

" _Is that a skeleton?_ " Flowey felt a shiver run up his stem. He had a bad feeling about this.

" _Y-yeah…?_ "

" _Can we talk to him?_ " Flowey's soul dropped, if how Frisk had acted before was any indication, they were about to yell. Flowey beat Frisk to it.

" _NO, FRISK! WE CANNOT TALK TO HIM, WE SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!_ "

" _Mmhuh…?_ " The skeleton guard snorted. Flowey's pupils dilated and he clamped his leaves onto his mouth. Really? Really!?

Dealing with the sweaty trashbag, known otherwise as Sans, had been surprisingly simple. Initially, the skeleton had jumped, fumbling for his mobile, which Flowey knocked from his hands into a snow-pile with a well-aimed seed bullet. After he'd lost the phone, Sans had turned to them, red pupils glowing in a half-assed attempt at a threat. It was obvious, even to Flowey, that the skeleton was exhausted. Hardly the example Flowey had wanted to show Frisk they should be careful. Frisk had obviously found this too, because they'd just offered him a slice of pie with a big, dumb smile and sat next to him. A short while later, the two were making small talk.

" _So you're a guardsman? That's awesome!_ " The sweaty trashbag nodded, stuffing another bite of pie into his open jaw. It was obvious he didn't like the sweet taste, wincing every time he took a bite, but he just kept shovelling it in like he hadn't eaten in days.

" _Mhmm. Yeah-mm._ " He paused, turning to Frisk. " _I know a bit about gamma-magnetic circulation and string theory too._ " Frisk tilted their head, brows knitted together and arms crossed.

" _So you know how to sew?_ " Sans' expression wavered between frowning and smiling.

" _Don't worry about it._ "

" _Frisk!_ " Flowey said authoritatively, definitely not whining at all. " _We need to get out of here, come on._ " Frisk and Sans turned to the indignant flower monster, who had his stalks cross over his stem, glaring hard into Sans' red pupils. Sans sneered, glaring back before looking at Frisk, smirking.

" _Yeah, kid, you better leaf._ " A cool silence fell over the group. Did he just…? Frisk suddenly erupted into uncontrollable giggles, bending double as they grabbed their stomach, tears rolling down their cheeks. Flowey groaned. Something in Sans' eyes changed, his pupils glowing with a certain warmth. He looked back at Flowey, grinning from end to end. " _I'm gonna count to tree and you better be gone by then, alright?_ " Frisk seemed to practically be dying in their seat and it took them a solid two minutes to calm down.

Eventually, Flowey had finally gotten Frisk to calm down enough to get off their seat and start walking away. Surprisingly, the sweaty trashbag kept to his word, leaning his head down on the counter, closing his eyes and counting to three – or 'tree' as he empathised. After three soft snores followed them, indicating the monster had fallen back into his fitful rest from before. Maybe he'd thought meeting them was a dream? Not like it really mattered, as long as they got away.

It'd been a week since then and Sans' initial 'gift' had proven to backfire on Flowey. After that, Frisk had become even more firmly convinced that the monsters of the Underground weren't as bad as Flowey made them out to be. Maybe that wouldn't have mattered under different circumstances, but it wasn't long after that they found themselves hunted through Snowdin. With the constantly patrolling guards and sniffer-dogs, travelling was incredibly risky for both of them. Initially, Flowey had wanted to leave for Hot-land as soon as possible, when there would be potentially less guards around Snowdin and a smaller possibility of news spreading further afield, but he knew it would be impossible to make the journey without supplies and most of those had been lost in the last week. Thus, they had been reduced to dumpster diving behind a grease-shop called Grillby's.

It was on one such occasion when they had heard loud banging and clanging and a very angry shouting voice.

"WHERE THE **_FUCK_** IS THAT LITTLE BASTARD!?" Frisk, shocked by the sudden noise, fumbled, his feet clanging softly against the side of the trash-can.

"Frisk, be quiet." Flowey hissed, straining his hearing. Initially, was nothing. Then he felt a small surge of warm soul energy as he had before. He looked down at Frisk. "Why did you do that?"

Frisk shrugged, brown eyes looking into his black pupils. "He sounded mad."

Flowey sighed. This kid was _way_ too kind-hearted. "Well, I just hope they're gone. We've had enough trouble stopping those dumb mutts finding us!"

Not thirty seconds later, they were tugged out of the trash-can, leading to their capture by the taller skeleton. Carrying them swiftly through the side-streets, the taller skeleton had thrown them into a cell that took up one half of what Flowey could only assume was some sort of garage.

"WAIT HERE AND DON'T CAUSE ANY TROUBLE!" The taller skeleton ordered, spinning on a booted heel and storming out of the room, leaving Frisk and Flowey behind.

* * *

Flowey gazed through the metal bars that prevented their escape. While it wasn't impossible for Flowey himself to fit through them, he knew that Frisk wouldn't be able to, even with his small stature. And without Frisk to carry him and a cement floor that prevented him from moving through the ground, Flowey knew he wouldn't get far enough to do anything useful. He continued looking, searching desperately for any way to get out of their current predicament.

Despite the fact the room was clearly intended as a garage for vehicles, no such item actually existed in the room. Beyond the cell itself, which was only decorated with a small cardboard box and some disconcerting chains along the back wall, the rest of the room seemed to have been converted into some sort of training room. Various machines were dotted around, their uses unknown except that they were likely to be used for causing pain. Each device had a small, cute plushie of various different animals affixed to it, either bound in straps or pierced on hooks that hung from the ceiling. Some of the plushies look pretty worn, their colourful fur darkened with moisture and cotton filling leaking onto the floor. On the opposite wall there was a door and a small wooden desk with a lamp. At least a dozen plushies sat on this desk alone, each in a different state of repair. Some seemed to have been sewn up many times; others had un-matched eyes, suggesting they had been replaced at least once and yet more seemed to begin the process of being re-filled with cotton from a full bag that lay by the side of the desk. It was disconcerting, contrasting the obviously violent purpose of the room against the meticulous care of the plushies.

Flowey sighed. This was hopeless. He couldn't see any keys anywhere. They were both well and truly trapped. Talking about the both of them. Flowey looked down from his perch at Frisk who for all this time had sat very still, cross-legged, on the hard cement floor, gazing out into the rest of the room. Their mouth was set into a straight line and their eyes were clouded in what Flowey suspected was panic.

"F-frisk? You alright?" Flowey couldn't keep the stammer out of his voice. The situation was bad enough without having to deal with a crying child. There was a long pause and Flowey swore he could feel sweat dripping down his stem. Frisk flinched, like Flowey's words had brought him out of a trance.

"Hmm? Wha-? Oh, Flowey!" Frisk rubbed their eye with the back of one small hand, yawning. "Sorry. I'm just a bit tired…" Flowey groaned. Well, at least Frisk hadn't broken character.

"I know you're tired, but we need to get out of here!" He shouted, riaisng his leafs in the air to indicate their confinement. Frisk tilted their head, question sparkling in their eyes.

"Why? Didn't the big skeleton tell us to sta-" Flowey interrupted.

"WHY WOULD YOU LISTEN TO HIM!?" He stopped, taking a deep breath. "Look, we won't be able to get you home if we just stay stuck in this cage, right? So help me find a way out, will'ya?" Frisk paused, slowly processing the information. Eventually, the child nodded, rolling up on to his feet.

"Okay." Flowey breathed a sigh of relief. Good, at least they were on the same page now. Not like it made much difference. Frisk quickly made their way to the far left of the cell wall, grabbing the first metal bar, jostling it. Nothing happened. Frisk huffed, reaching for the second and jostling it again. Again nothing. From there, Frisk slowly moved from left to right, grabbing each bar in turn and jostling it before moving onto the next. By the 6th bar, Flowey was both thoroughly confused and frustrated.

"What are you even _doing_!?" Frisk glanced up at him, eyebrow quirked as if Flowey had asked what his own name was.

"Didn't you know? All prisons have a loose bar somewhere in case a policeman gets trapped inside. I'm looking for one here." Flowey paused.

"WHAT!? I'VE NEVER HEARD SOMETHING SO RIDICULOUS IN MY LIFE!?"

"It's true!... I think… I saw it in a cop movie once, so it's gotta be true, right?" Frisk continued along the bars, jostling each in turn. Flowey sighed. This was it, they were doom-

 _CLICK-CLACK._

The sound of loose metal hitting cement brought Flowey of out of his down-ward spiral. No way. Frisk grinned, grabbing the bar and pulling it sharply down. Even with his meagre strength, the bar gave way, shifting down before falling outwards.

 _CLANG!_

The bar fell loudly to the floor, ringing out across the entire garage. Flowey was stunned. Frisk, unperturbed, simply grinned at him, looking so proud with themselves. Flowey huffed, turning away. Fine, whatever. Frisk giggled, squeezing through the gap between the bars.

They bee-lined for the door, which was luckily unlocked, appearing slightly off the main street.

"Which way?" Frisk glanced to Flowey, who scanned the possible routes. Going through the main street would be suicide and they definitely couldn't stay here anymore, not with the alarm raised as to their whereabouts. Raising his right stalk, Flowey pointed towards the back of the house. It wasn't the best plan, but it was better than nothing. Frisk nodded, following Flowey's directions and they ran around the back of the house.

When they reached the back, Frisk slowed, gasping. Flowey cursed silently to himself. Despite the overwhelming power in his soul, Frisk's physical body wasn't built for strenuous activity, especially when exhausted, cold and hungry. But he couldn't exactly let them rest right now.

"Frisk, come on! We have to go otherwise the whole pack will be onto us!" Frisk frowned.

"I _know_! Just… one second…" Frisk leaned against the back of the house, desperately trying to catch their breath.

 _HISSS!_

As Frisk's back hit the wood, the silence was broken by a loud hissing sound followed by the clanking of machinery and locks opening. Neither of them had much time to process what was happening before the wood Frisk was leaning on seemingly caved in, throwing them into the void behind the wall.

"Oww~" Frisk whined, nursing their hurt side. For a moment, Flowey looked around the pitch black expanse, horror gripping his soul. What the heck was this place!? The void beyond the door was soon lit up by bright white lights, revealing what looked like some sort of workshop, with one long desk spanning on wall of the room. The room had clearly been used often. Open books and assorted papers were scattered across every surface of the room, some even stacked haphazardly on the floor. In one corner there was a strange object covered by a light blue tarp.

Slowly, Frisk stopped whimpering and looked around the room, eyes sparkling.

"Wow! This is just like a sci-fi movie!" Frisk scrabbled from the floor, dragging Flowey with him as he ran over to the tarp. Flowey didn't even have time to say anything before Frisk threw off the tarp, revealing the object underneath. Flowey flinched. Four black, soulless sockets stared back at him, set in a bestial skull that sent shivers down his stem. "Woah… it's a robot!" Huh? Frisk moved forward, pawing their hands along the skull, dull echoes ringing out as they tapped it. Flowey noticed then that despite the front part of the machine looking like a skull, the back part was gun-metal grey and clearly only half-built, wires and loose connections falling out the back. He sighed. As they examined the machine, suddenly a sharp gust of bitter wind blew into the room. Frisk's clothes flapped in the wind, causing their owner to shiver, holding themselves.

They turned just in time to see that all the books and papers that had previously been scattered were now all stacked neatly in piles or closed except for one singular book on the counter. What the-

Frisk wasted no time in running to the book, clearly intrigued. They both examined the page the book had landed on. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to be a map of the Hot-lands. The double-page spread was covered with strange symbols that Flowey couldn't even attempt to read. Towards the centre of the spread, around the centre of the Core, however, there was a large circle drawn in blue ink with chicken-scratch written beside it. This Flowey actually could read:

'Experimental evidence. Chance of negative energy density: 95%. Possible warp jump location?'

Flowey was baffled. He'd never been that strong into science, so most of the language meant nothing, but he what he could glean was that _somehow_ this location was important. It had to be, with the less-than-coincidental forces leading them to this page. Before Flowey could try and figure out anything further, a loud bang sounded from the passageway leading to the room.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT, I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT!" Oh for the love of Asgore! Flowey barely had any time, but in what time he did had have a small enigma of a plan arose in his mind. He took a deep breath and summoned a few bullet petals, sending them flying into the book, eviscerating the pages beyond legibility. Leaning down, he scooped as many scraps into his mouth as possible, swallowing them with a painful gulp. Oh god he hoped this worked!

* * *

Papyrus growled, gathering his bearings as he ran further into the strange room behind his house. It hadn't taken him long to notice that the human and his stupid plant companion had escaped, hearing the clang of the bar falling from the living-room of the main house. He'd run into the side path, brushing past the mutt squad as they started to return home from Grillby's. He ignored them as he shoved through, making a break into the alley with several voices shouting behind him. Following the small prints left in the snow, he ran around back and saw the open passageway. An uncontrollable shudder ran through his spine as he looked inside the yawning space. This place felt eerily familiar. He hesitated, his soul shivering.

Wait, what the hell was he doing!? Papyrus the Terrible never feared anything and definitely not something in his own house! He shook his skull, readying himself before charging in. It didn't take him long to spot the human, standing openly by a counter on one side of the room.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT, I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT!"

Rage flared through his bones as he marched up to the child, grabbing their soul with a flick of his carpal and pulling them off the floor. The child's irises contracted and they struggled against his hold before promptly giving up, panting for breath. Papyrus smirked, though it came out twisted through anger.

"TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU RIGHT NOW AND TAKE YOUR SOUL TO ASGORE!" He tightened his hold, squeezing around the human's soul. The human gasped, struggling renewed for a few short moments before stopping again.

"Hey, stop that!" Papyrus snapped his skull to the flower the was still laced around the human's shoulders.

"AND WHY SHOULD I DO THAT? AT THIS POINT, YOU TWO ARE WORTH MORE TO ME _DEAD_ THAN ALIVE!"

"Because we can help you find that Sweaty Trashbag!"

Papyrus flinched, his expression falling. He froze. _What_?

The flower took the opportunity.

"You're looking for someone, right? I bet it's that Sweat- I mean Sans!? Well, we know how to find him!" The human looked to the flower and the flower nodded back. The human must have understood something, because they looked at Papyrus now, chocolate brown to red and nodded to him too.

"It's true. Please Mr San's friend, if Mr Sans is lost and you're looking for him, we wanna help you find him." Papyrus grit his jaw.

"I'm not his 'friend' dammit! He's… he's my brother…" He paused, his thoughts possessing him again. Was he actually _considering_ it!? This was ridiculous! He should kill them now while he could an-

"So _this_ is what the Cap was hiding from us." Papyrus spun around to the door. Doggo stood inside the frame, blocking it, but Papyrus could hear the panting and barks from behind him, indicating the entire pack had followed him. Shit. Doggo smiled, faded eyes fixing themselves on the movement of the human. He sneered, baring his fangs. "No wonder you sent us on the stupid goose chase! You wanted to save that human all to yourself!"

"Doggo, this isn-"

"'Isn't what it looks like'? Hell if I'll believe that, you were about to betray all of us to that damn human weren't you!? Well, me and my pals have a little something to say to traitor's like you!" Doggo growled, rearing back his head for a howl before he leapt forward, charging straight for Papyrus.

Papyrus glanced over at the human who he still held with his magic before squeezing his eyes shut. His soul felt like it was about to tear itself apart. He groaned, opening his eyes. Pulling his wrist towards himself, he pulled the human in closer to his body, grabbing them with one arm and scooping them underneath his right scapula. With his other hands, he materialized a phantom bone throwing it across the room. Doggo instinctively focused on the moving projectile, giving Papyrus all the opportunity he needed. He smashed the mutt in the side of the head, crashing him into a wall. Then he started to run, sprinting towards the passageway, barging past the unorganized guards and down the back streets of Snowdin, making a break for the boundary to Waterfall.

An hour of running later and Papyrus finally felt safe enough to take a rest. Setting the child onto the snow, careful to maintain a grip on his soul, he leant his back against a rock, gulping down the bitter air.

The child stood perfectly still, looking at Papyrus with sparkling eyes. The flower was the first to speak.

"So, here's the deal. You escort us to the Overlord's palace and we'll tell you how to find your brother."

Papyrus found it in himself to chuckle darkly, glaring at the flower with inflamed pupils. "AND WHY DO YOU THINK I'D DO THAT!?"

"If you hadn't at least considered it, you would have left us to die back there, no?" Papyrus flinched and the flower smiled, knowing they had the upper-hand. "This a deal 'Mr. Sans' brother'?" Papyrus paused, grinding his teeth together. He hissed, clenching his bones before sighing, slumping forward.

"Ugh… fine…" He was going to regret this later, he knew he was. This wasn't like him, to show mercy. But every time they mentioned knowing where Sans was, Papyrus felt like this was his last chance. He took a few more breaths before standing, looming over the human child and his stupid flower ally. "We leave now… and my name is Captain Papyrus."

* * *

 ***You gained a new party member: Grumpy Tsun* XD**  
 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter in the Underfell universe. The next chapter we will be going back to Underswap, but I thought it might be interesting for everyone to see what was going on on UF!Pap's end while Sans is in Underswap.**

 **HEADCANON: So, I like to think that, apart from UF!Frisk being younger than most other Frisks, they also are kind of like Super!Frisk in that they are predisposed to never kill in any situation while UT!Frisk can do either and US!Frisk... well. Anyway, more will be explained later, but I imagine that, besides Flowey becoming good and everyone else becoming bad, Frisk's nature for mercy has also been vastly increased in this universe and with it the power of his soul, even though physically he is much weaker than other Frisks.**  
 **Also, yes, those plushies are what Papyrus calls his 'war dummies'. I like to think, like how Papyrus has his action figures which he calls 'battle figurines', UF!Pap has his own, possibly childish interests. I like to imagine that he would be the type of monster who collects rare stuffed animals from Waterfall and hoards them, tearing them apart for training but also lovingly repairing them.**  
 **Also, UF!Sans finally made a pun! Yay!**

 **SHOUT-OUTS: First shout-out goes to the guest ireadsstuff whose lovely comment filled me with determination and warm fuzzies! Thanks as well to all my other lovely reviewers and readers and those who favourite, bookmark and follow this story. You guys are what make this so fulfilling to me and I really hope you continue to enjoy this and keep commenting and supporting me in your own little ways. It reall make a huge difference.**

 **Well then, until next time. - Caz.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AAAAAAHHHHH! I'M SORRY!... Phew! Now that that's out of the way! I'm sounding like a broken record here, but thank you so much for the comments, kudos and bookmarking everyone! Really, even a small comment brightens my day so immeasurably, you don't even know! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter (not as good as I envisioned, but I think it's alright, obviously tell me if you think I could make it better somehow!)!**

* * *

"AW~! THAT'S SO ADORABLE!" Blue squealed.

Red grunted, forced out of his sleepy daze by the ear-splitting scream that was Blue's voice.

"Mnngh?" Blue glanced over to Sans as he slowly began to awaken, beaming.

"AH! RED! SORRY FOR WAKING YOU UP. BUT I'M GLAD YOU'RE AWAKE! WE'RE JUST GETTING TO THE BEST PART!" Sans grunted again, his voice slurred with drowsiness.

"Hmm? Great, I guess…" He sighed internally. If he could get some basic equipment he was sure he could show that Blue's voice habitually broke the sound barrier. Not like he was really complaining. By now, Sans would have thought he was used to Blue's frequent loudness – and for the most part he was. However, Blue was always able to surprise him with just how impossibly high his 'squees', as he called them, could get. As full consciousness slowly returned to Sans, he opened his eye-sockets, readjusting himself on the couch.

"glad to see you back in the world of the living." Sans noticed the Bastard's voice, a quiet drawl to begin with, was even slower than usual. He resisted the temptation to chuckle. Guess he wasn't the only one who couldn't keep his eyes open.

"Can it. At least _I_ got some shut-eye." He turned and pointed to his right eye-socket, the corner of his mandible quirked up in a smirk. The Bastard chuckled, the vibrations filtering through to Sans.

"yeah… 'spose." The chuckles receded and, with nothing else to do, Sans directed his pupils to the TV screen and the likely cause of Blue's outburst.

It had been Blue's idea to watch the movie in the first place. As they ate their breakfast tacos that morning – Sans' soaked in mustard and the Bastard's with his disgustingly sweet honey - Blue had been practically raving about it. Apparently it was most recent and high-budget production from NTB and it was 'not to be missed'. Sans had initially been reluctant. He'd never been a fan of movies; the last time he'd watched a film he'd had nightmares for weeks because of all the blood and gore. However, he was soon defeated by Blue's enthusiasm and starry eyes. That didn't stop him falling asleep as soon as the opening credits rolled, though.

At the moment, two blocky robots filled the screen, both exactly identical except that one was wearing an ill-fitting leather jacket while the other wore a clip-on pink bow. Despite the horrendous overuse of effects, it didn't take long for Sans to recognize that both robots were literally the same monster. According to Blue, who self-proclaimed himself as the star's biggest fan, Napstabot was the best actor, writer, director and electronic musician in the whole Underground. So far as Sans knew, he was also the _only_ one too.

The jacket-wearing Napstabot and the pink-bow Napstabot were talking, the former begrudgingly promising to help the latter in some stupid quest to save some idiotic family member who'd been captured by the poorest excuse for a 'gang' Sans had ever seen. Sans sneered, snorting derisively.

"Pfft! What nut-job thought _this_ was a good idea?" He reached out both arms to the screen. Blue glanced over to him, a raised eye-ridge indicating his confusion.

"HMM? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Sans rolled his eye-lights.

"Oh _com'on_!" Sans took a deep breath, putting on the most exaggerated 'badass' voice he could think of "'My brother disappeared and you're the only one who knows how to find him, so let's work together so I can get him back'? It's ridiculous!" To his left, the Bastard started chuckling again, though this time he at least had the good grace to try and hide it behind an orange sleeve. Sans continued. "And the acting is so hammy." He put on a girlish voice. "'Oh, Napstario, you are so cool and manly'! I've seen slime monsters with better range than that!" The chuckling intensified and, glancing over, Sans could see that Blue was battling down a smile as well. "And have you seen those effects? I guess I really should have _set_ myself up for a let-down."

Everything seemed to pause. Sans became the centre of attention, the movie forgotten as the brother's pupils focused on his own. Sans tensed. _Shit_ , he hadn't meant to do that. Had he gone too far? Sweat began to bead on his skull as the brother's stares continued to bore into him. Should he apologize? Back in his world, he knew his Papyrus hated his sense of humour. A couple of times, he'd been locked into the torture room's cage for the night because of an ill-timed pun.

"L-look," he stuttered. _Damn_ him and his nerves! "I-I'm sor-!"

"nyeheheheheheh!" Hysterical laughter interrupted him. Sans looked over at the Bastard, who was rolling in his seat, having abandoned all pretence of subtlety. His skull was leant back against the couch, eye-sockets closed and bony arms hugging his frame, seemingly to stop his bones rattling.

Blue groaned, a gloved palm pressing against the crown of his skull. "URGH, BROTHER! THAT IS HARDLY A DIGNIFED RESPONSE!" Even though his arm covered part of his face, Sans could make out that Blue was grinning too, frame quivering slightly with swallowed giggles.

"heheh. sorry bro, that joke just sent me _reel_ -ing is all." Blue let out another exaggerated groan, though this one was obviously tinged with amusement. Sans felt his frame relax all at once and he started laughing as well, Blue's sniggers following after.

For a while, the living-room was filled with nothing but laughter, the movie plainly forgotten as the three brothers immersed themselves in the warmth of fellow companionship. It was so strange, Sans thought. In his Underground, everything was at the extremes. Either something was mind-numbingly cold or scorching hot; their short lives either consumed with crippling depression of maddening rage. There was no middle ground. There was no comfort. But here… here everything seemed strangely temperate. Strangely warm.

When Sans had first appeared, that feeling had confused and disconcerted him, putting him on edge. However, as the days and weeks passed, he could slowly feel it seeping into his bones. That warmth, the warmth and positivity he felt from interacting with Blue and the Bastard, was slowly pervading his soul. And, to his honest surprise, he found he didn't dislike that feeling. That feeling of platonic familiarity that didn't call for frantic displays of affection or a strictly enforced hierarchy. For the first time in decades, Sans felt like he could… be himself.

Slowly, the moment faded, leaving the three brothers catching their breaths as they leant heavily into the back of the couch. Naturally, and without any command, they all re-focused on the movie, watching in happy silence. If Sans had been lost with the plot before, he was even more so now. But he found that he didn't mind, a small fanged smile etched on his skull as he watched the trashy flick.

* * *

Sometimes, Sans almost shocked himself with just how much Red had changed over the past weeks. Of course, it was only 'almost' because he knew full well that he was a major instigator of that change (oh, how clever he was, mweheh). Still, it was amazing how quickly Red had adapted to living with him and Papyrus.

After Red's nightmare in the first week, Sans was determined to make Red feel more comfortable in their home. While he still went out to talk with Undyne and Alphys and monitor the human's progress through the Underground, sometimes he would just stay at home with Red and Papyrus, making the excuse that he wanted to deep-clean the house.

He'd started with little things. Small talks on the couch. Showing Red where everything was and how it worked. Watching TV together. It had been a slow process at first, with many conversations ending in annoyed grunts from Red or him falling into a fitful sleep. However, with determination and charm (a factor that the magnificent Sans had in spades), Red had begun to open up.

Sans had told him about the Underground; about their history, his friends, Chara and what they all did for fun. Red still didn't talk much about his own home - whatever few references he made to it were obscure and often disconnected -, but Sans wasn't the type to pry unnecessarily and from what he could tell, Red's home wasn't the most pleasant of places to begin with. Despite not being a talker, Red was an attentive listener, staring quietly at Sans as he rambled on during their 'conversations'.

From there, Sans had slowly pushed Red to come further out of his shell. Unfortunately, like his brother, Red didn't enjoy housework. He still preferred to sleep or watch TV on the couch than clean the house or cook. It was a shame, really. He didn't dare say it, but Red's potential as a chef was much higher than his own.

" _WOW, RED, THESE ARE AMAZING! WHAT ARE THEY CALLED AGAIN?_!" Sans gazed down reverently at the food before him. On first impression, it seemed to be a very simple recipe; sauce and some minced meat between two bread buns. It reminded him a lot of his own tacos, but having taken a single bite he understood that they were so much more. Red snorted, smirking, straightening his spine and tilting his skull upwards in pride.

" _Sloppy Joes… What? Never had one before?_ " Sans shook his head, taking another bite and humming at the strong, earthy flavour that was tinged with just enough spice for him to enjoy. He couldn't stop himself from smiling; not just because of the amazing food but also because of just how content Red looked with his effort. It lightened his soul to see his friend like that.

Across the couch, Papyrus was holding onto his Joe. While his face was relaxed as normal, Sans didn't miss the furious concentration in his pupils, studying the meal like it was a puzzle waiting to be solved. Sans briefly lamented that Papyrus never showed such focus when he was meant to be working on his traps, before silencing his own thoughts with another bite. Papyrus' pupils flicked up to Red.

" _what's it made of?_ " Red chuckled, shrugging.

" _Why do you wanna know Bas- Butthead? Don't you trust me?_ " Their pupils met for a moment, wary white against unreadable red. After a long moment, Papyrus broke off. He started to move the burger to his mandible as Red started speaking. " _Well, if you must know. It's quite simple. Just some meat, ketchup, bell pepper and lots of…_ " By now, Papyrus had bitten into the Joe. Red's skull shifted, his eye-sockets shadowed as he grinned manically " _mustard._ "

The reaction was almost instantaneous. Papyrus dropped the Joe, placing a bony hand around his cervical vertebrae and the non-existent throat the food had just gone down. Tears brimmed at the edges of his eye-sockets and he coughed violently. " _you._ "

" _Heh, sorry. I_ mustard _forgot you don't like spice._ " Both narrowed their eye-sockets and Sans' soul dropped as Papyrus' pupil glowed a soft orange, lifting up his Joe and aiming it straight at Red.

The rest of that evening had been filled with a prolonged food-fight which only ended with Sans yelling at the top of his lungs, battle body covered in every kind of condiment and foodstuff. Needless to say, Sans had had to enforce a ban on either Papyrus or Red cooking for a while, to prevent further attacks.

Despite that frustrating experience, Sans had noticed that changes were occurring between Red and Papyrus as well. After the nightmare, Papyrus and Red had begun to engage more with one another. Sadly, that would usually take the form of teasing or, for the love of Queen Toriel, _pun competitions_. Between fighting over who got the best couch seat and keeping a tally of supposed 'wins and losses' from their various competitions, life at home had become a living battle-field for Sans.

However, despite this, it was clear that neither of them hated each other. They were both so similar that they couldn't stay away from each other, but, as a consequence, they were both unwilling to let down their guards properly around one another. Instead, their growing friendship was concealed in small gestures. In those times when Red would begrudgingly let Papyrus take the best seat because he wasn't 'childish' and stopped calling him a 'Bastard' to his face or when Papyrus would be the first on the scene if Red looked like he was having another nightmare. It was impossible for Sans to ignore how much Red smiled around Papyrus or how loud Papyrus' calming soul-beats were when he was trying to console Red.

Sans had to stop himself from snickering every time. One day he would get a picture of one on his phone. Until then, he would act ignorant and allow the two to go at their own pace. After all, he excelled at being patient!

Despite Red being happier in his waking hours, his nights were still filled with nightmares. The entire second week had been filled with sleepless hours for Sans as he spent the whole night straining his hearing, listening for the first signs of distress. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and came up with a simple solution. Why didn't they all just sleep together?

It was a completely innocent idea, he thought, so he didn't understand why Red was so averse to it when he had first mentioned it over breakfast.

" _HEY, RED?_ "

" _Hmm?_ _What?_ " Red mumbled, continuing to chew his breakfast taco.

" _WELL!... uhm…_ " Despite himself, Sans fiddled with his phalanges. He really hoped Red didn't take this the wrong way. " _I WAS WONDERING IF… uh… DURING THE NIGHT! WE COULD ALL… sleep together?_ "

Both Red and Papyrus shot their gazes over to him. Red's face lit up with a deep red blush, pupils darting from left to right, entire frame trembling in panic. Papyrus meanwhile, looked eerily calm, his pupils non-existent as he just stared at Sans with his gaping black eye-sockets. Even though Sans hadn't understood _why_ the other two were so shocked, he knew he must have said something bad. One hurried explanation later and the tension slowly started to ebb. Thus had begun a long stream of sleepovers.

Initially, Red had been reticent, complaining about how Sans and Papyrus were being too 'touchy-feely'. At first, Sans had had to create excuses. Late movie nights, telling stories in the dark, him having nightmares himself. As with everything else involving Red, progress had been slow. By now, however, they all had all come to a silent understanding. Every other day, they would have a sleepover and on other days they would try and sleep apart, though they would all meet if Red had a nightmare.

It was obvious how much good they were doing for Red! He just looked so… _relaxed_ when he finally dozed off, his usually creased eye-ridge settling in a neutral expression. If it was possible, Red resembled Sans _more_ when he was asleep than when he was awake. Red, despite his complaining, wouldn't let either of them leave his side during the night, grumbling in half-sleep as he held on tightly to their hands.

The dark rings under his eye-sockets, while still visible, had noticeably faded and he didn't sleep during the day nearly as much as before. His spine had supposedly healed quite well, though he wouldn't let Sans any closer to examine the damage for himself. He'd even stopped swearing as much, which Sans' wallet silently thanked him for.

Tonight was another of their sleepovers. It didn't take long for Sans to engross himself in the movie again. Currently, Napstario and Napstariette were being chased on a motorcycle by a car full of armed monsters. He honestly couldn't see what the problem was. Everything was amazing! Out of the corner of his eye-socket, he could see Red fiddling with his phone, mandible set into a downcast expression. He forced down a frown. Periodically, when he thought no-one was looking, Red would start playing with his phone, tapping buttons as if he was trying to call someone. Sans wouldn't push him to tell him why. After all, he was going to become a member of the royal guard! Being patient was nothing for him, mweheheh!...

He just hoped that maybe, someday soon, Red would trust them enough to tell them what was on his mind while he stared at those keys. Until then, for as long as he stayed here, he was Sans' dear friend and guest, and he would be darned if he didn't treat him like one!

* * *

Sans swore that he _had_ been focusing on the movie!... He'd tried to anyway. Despite how terrible and cliché it was he just couldn't stop remembering that one scene; the lines constantly repeating in his mind. It was laughable. _No-one_ would sacrifice their pride _just_ to save a family member… After half an hour he found his hand delving into his jacket pocket, drawing out his old flip-phone as he had done so many times before.

The phone was old, even by Underground standards. The colourful plastic, once a flashy red, had been scratched away, revealing the grey chrome underneath. The screen was cracked in several places, fractures making the screen almost illegible. Sans couldn't count the number of times he'd had to repair the damn thing, replacing every circuit and wire at least twice. In truth, he probably should get rid of it… but he knew he couldn't.

The phone had been a gift from Boss. When Boss had become the leading commander of the Underground, he'd given the phone to Sans, saying that it would be 'inconvenient' to not have some way to communicate while on patrol. It had been a purely practical consideration, he kept reminding himself. But that didn't stop him treasuring the device as his most valuable treasure.

As soon as he'd had enough energy to stay awake for more than a few moments, he'd raced for the phone, punching in Boss' number. But, of course, the call hadn't actually gotten through, disconnecting after a few dials. That fact didn't stop him trying though, idly tapping the number in whenever he was alone.

Was he really so pathetic? He wasn't stupid. His brother was probably having the time of his life now that Sans was 'dead'. Was he retarded? Did he really _want_ to go back? Blue treated him well enough, so why couldn't he just stay here, in this mirror-universe?

He knew he didn't want to go back to the pain, the nightmares, the starvation and the violence. He was too weak to kill and he knew he always would be. He knew that Papyrus didn't want him back. Nah, his brother wasn't like that punk on the screen. He'd never sacrifice anything to bring him back.

However, he also knew that this place, no matter how warm it was, would never be _his_ home. If he stayed, he knew that, deep in his soul, he would just be running away again. He'd be proving exactly what every monster had ever said about him. He'd be abandoning Papyrus to die in that doomed underground tomb.

But what could he do!? Even if he could go back, what could _he_ , the pitiful runt, do? If Papyrus didn't eviscerate him, he was sure the other monsters wouldn't be far behind. He couldn't change what'd happened to him or Papyrus or… he couldn't change _anything_!

 _Crick_

 _SHIT!_

His mind flickered back to reality as he heard the soft crack of his phone in his phalanges, threatening to break it for good. He slowly released his grip, sighing.

He didn't have all the answers, sure, and he had no idea how he was going to face his brother again. But, for now, all he knew was that he needed to stop running. Stop running and get stronger so that, even if he couldn't do anything, he could at least say to the demons of his past and present, with a huge shit-eating grin, that he was a better monster and he'd proved them wrong.

Sans looked up from his phone and glanced around. The Bastard seemed to have finally given up the fight and was snoring quietly, his skull leaning on the back of the couch. Good. He didn't want him breathing down his spine. Blue was still staring at the screen, where apparently the stupid brother had been saved, though at the cost of Napstario's life.

Sans opened his jaw, taking a deep breath. His first attempt at speaking failed him, nothing coming out except a dry squeak. He groaned, rubbing his skull with his phalanges.

 _Com'on dipshit, just say it…_

"H-hey Blue?" Blue looked over, eye-ridge quirked in interest.

"YES RED?" Sans flinched, almost retreating. He caught himself before he did though and forced himself to puff out his ribcage.

"You talked about knowing some strong monsters before…right?"

* * *

It was at times like these that Papyrus was glad he'd mastered the art of being a light sleeper over his many resets. It was his brother's voice that had woken him up initially from his light slumber. The ensuing conversation had been both heartening and concerning.

To summarise, Red had asked Sans if he would let him go and see Undyne and Alphys. While he hadn't been explicit about what he'd wanted to see them for, that hadn't mattered to Sans. Papyrus could practically feel his brother's starry eyes under his closed eye-lids, his giddy excitement flowing through him like a wave of sunshine. Honestly, he was quite proud of the little guy himself.

However, the thought was quickly soured when Papyrus remembered those scars he'd seen on Red's skeleton. Despite the initial distance he'd put between them, he found that, as time passed, he came to regard Red more and more as not only a friend, but a brother. In some weird trans-dimensional way, he _was_ his brother. With the end of their time Underground coming upon them as Frisk made their way steadily to the core, he'd found his focus had shifted more to Red.

After 3 long weeks of no contact, Dad had finally announced to him that he would be able to get the portal running soon. Papyrus had suspected the news wouldn't exactly be a blessing after the time he'd spent with Red, but he hadn't expected himself to feel quite so… angry either.

As far as he knew, Red's universe was filled with violence and death and he knew, deep in his soul, that that universe's Papyrus was a big part of it. He'd hurt Red, his brother, in so many ways. As his thoughts consumed him, he didn't notice when exactly Sans and Red had fallen asleep. He only noticed when he felt a small weight burrow into his right side.

Looking down at Red, Papyrus couldn't help but grin fondly. This was how things should be, them all healthy and happy. He had to convince him… somehow he had to convince him to not return to that doomed universe. He wouldn't survive out there and he knew it.

He had to convince him. Papyrus felt orange magic unfurl in his soul, brightening his pupil. He had to convince him… and if he couldn't convince him with words.

He'd do it his way.

* * *

 **Oh shit, whattup! Shit's gonna go down, yo! Who knows what will happen next chapter? *points at self***

 **Heh heh. Anyway, I hoped you guys enjoyed that! I know you guys probably expected this kind of development to take place over multiple chapters (and honestly I would love if I could write it that way, I have seen so many good fics that do character development so much better than me), but this how I always envisioned it to go and, ultimately, I couldn't really find anyway to change it in my head. But I hope you enjoy the next few chapters anyway! And, no, I totally didn't forget about Sans having a phone until this chapter... YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING! Also, kudos to those who noticed the small self-jab at myself that inexplicably became a plot device? How the heckie did that work?**

 **HEAD-CANON: So most of the head-canon here is me taking liberties and fleshing out the world of Underswap, more of which will be done in the next two chapters. So, in my head, there are quite a few differences between each of the three main universes (Underswap, Tale and Fell). The difference that is most notable here is how each Universe's 'Mettaton' acts.**

 **In Tale, as you all probably know, Mettaton is a entertainment robot that hosts in most type of media, from stage performance to disco to news-presenting and game-show hosting. In Swap, Napstabot (or Napstaton, as I have seen some fics refer to him), is very similaur. He however, has certain specialties that Mettaton doesn't. Firstly, he likes to perform electronic music more than stage music and he probably likes to star more in action movies than romantic ones. Fun fact, but I think that Underfell Mettaton (who I fondly refer to as Mettatrix) is the most different. They would be much more chaotic and would spend their time creating horror and battle-royales that use... live studio audiences.**

 **SHOUT-OUTS: Huge shoutout to my new beta Keep Calm and Be Ninja. Thank you so much for the help and I really hope you all like the more stream-lined chapters, when they start publishing. And, as always, thank you so much to all those who support my work. This wouldn't be here without you!**

 **Anyway, I will see you guys next time - Caz.**


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a long time since Sans read human literature. Human literature was a rarity in his Underground, many early copies either burned during the war or subsequently lost to poor care.

The few times that Sans had managed to get hold of a book was when he would sneak into his father's laboratory in the dead of night, reading General Gaster's 'study' by dim candlelight. It was rarer still to find human fiction. His father's sparse collection was mainly comprised of heavy scientific texts or books full to bursting with military stratagem and human battle tactics. Except for one.

It was a tiny book compared to the tomes surrounding it. It was also in the worst condition, the pages practically falling out as he touched them. The book, he now knew, was a memoir of a human commander. The writing was amateur, but he'd found himself reading through it again and again, committing every mundane detail to memory. One quote, at the time, was a mystery to him.

'The first step is always the hardest'.

He remembered sneering. _Any_ idiot could take _one_ step, he'd thought.

* * *

"COME ON RED! IT'S JUST ONE STEP." Sans' red pupils snapped up from the floor, momentarily catching Blue's. Blue wasn't the best monster at hiding his emotions, so it took mere seconds for Sans to pin-point the hesitant concern that shone in his counter-part's eye-sockets. He tsked, snapping his eyes back to the ground.

"I know!" Sans puffed out his ribcage, attempting to show off the courage he certainly wasn't feeling. "… Just… g-give me a sec…" Sans stared at the threshold that separated him and the house from the rest of Snowdin.

It was just _one_ step. Not so hard, right? Even a baby-bones could do _that_. Sans' red sneakers remained stubbornly frozen to the floor, as they had been for the past three minutes. He growled inwardly, bony hands clenching into fists at his sides.

 _COME THE FUCK ON!_ It was such a simple thing to do!

He would never admit it, but talking to Blue was the best thing he had done since he'd arrived in this mirror universe. While his counterpart's excessive enthusiasm was often more of an annoyance than a blessing - seriously, how could someone that looked just like him be so _energetic_? - this time it was a comfort. It made Sans feel like he hadn't just exposed himself in the worst way possible – again, another thing he would never admit.

That morning, for the first time in Asgore knew how long, he felt rested and ready to do more than just sit on the couch all day. Blue obviously shared the sentiment, running around the house so fast that if Sans didn't know better he would have thought the small skeleton had his own blinking powers. Even the Bastard was more active than usual, pacing around the house with his eye-ridges drawn up in thought.

Everything had gone well… until they were leaving. Now Sans stood at the threshold, one step away from the unknown of the rest of the mirror-universe. Fractured images and thoughts slowly began to swirl. Sans winced as a migraine took hold. His old scars started burning under his clothes, each one reminding him of his weakness. He only barely fought back an impulse to start clawing at them, balling his fists so hard he swore he could hear the bones crunching.

He couldn't do it. His breaths came out faster, shallower, His souls started to tingle and burn under his clothes. It was beating frantically, warning him. He couldn't do this. His pupils contracted, only trembling pin-pricks of light in his skull. He could faintly hear Blue calling him, trying to reassure him. But he couldn't hear him. All he could hear were the insults. The growls and snarls and rattling breaths. He could only smell the blood and dust. Monsters fighting, tearing each other apart. Blood spattered on walls and floors. Darkness. All-consuming blackness. He-

"'scuse me." A firm weight pushed into Sans' spine. Sans, easily knocked off-balance, sprawled forward into the snowy outside. He spun on his heel.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He glared at the Bastard, who now stood in the threshold. He growled. "You pushed me, didn't you, you Bastard!?"

Sans winced at his own curse, adding one to his internal tally of lost gold - when the hell had that started? The Bastard, only now seeming to notice Sans, looked down, smiling lazily.

"oh, sorry red. didn't see you there." He chuckled, shutting the door behind him. "but hey, at least you got outside, right? it'd be a bit sad if you ended up being a _snow_ show."

Blue groaned from behind, levelling a glare that was almost as hard as Sans'.

"PAPY!" The Bastard shrugged, placing a lollipop in his open jaw. He spoke around the lollipop as he sucked.

"'m sorry, bro." He didn't sound at all apologetic. Blue sighed, turning to Sans, pupils softening.

"SORRY RED. YOU KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS IF YOU'RE UNCOMFORTABLE. I'M SURE CAPTAIN ALPHYS AND UNDYNE WOULD BE GLAD TO MEET YOU WHENEVER YOU'RE READY."

Sans paused, seriously considering the idea of giving up and going back inside. Blue was right. Considering there still seemed to be no news of when, or if, he would be able to return, there would probably be more chances to see Blue's friends. He shook his skull, gritting his teeth.

No. He had to do this now or not do it at all. He lifted up one leg and put one foot in front of the other. He awkwardly, yet proudly, walked past Blue. He had determined to do this and he would do it! Blue giggled. He turned back, shooting him a glare.

"What!?" Blue shut his jaw, blushing a deep cyan.

"S-SORRY! It's just… you're walking the wrong way." It was Sans' turn to flush. He coughed.

"Oh. Right… well, lead the way then!" Blue nodded, starry-eyed as he marched deeper into town. Sans followed, puffing out his cheeks. The Bastard, with his long strides, easily matched Sans' awkward steps, levelling at his side. A large, warm hand rested onto the crown of his skull. Flinching, Sans looked at the Bastard. The Bastard chuckled, withdrawing his hand.

"you did good grumpy"

Sans huffed, shifting away from the skeleton. No, he wasn't blushing! Never in a million years! Still, he couldn't help but feel something was… off about this universe's Papyrus. It hadn't escaped his notice that the Bastard's pupils were hazier than normal or that his ever-present smile seemed more set. It wasn't like Sans to be concerned about anyone, let alone the Bastard. But still… something about the way he was acting sent a chill down his spine.

A sudden idea hit.

"Wait!" He stopped. Both brothers looked back, eye-ridges raised. "How the hell are we gonna get there!?"

From the descriptions that Blue gave him over the past 3 weeks, the Underground's structure wasn't too different from his own. If they were going to Waterfall, as Blue said they were, it would take at least 4 days of walking. Both brothers looked at each other, then back at Sans.

"PAPY KNOWS A SHORT-CUT." The Bastard nodded and Sans' jaw dropped.

Logically, it made sense for the Bastard to use his teleportation to get them there. Blue seemingly knew nothing about either Sans' or his brother's powers. He also seemed unable to use them himself, much like his own Papyrus. So how could the Bastard use them so openly?

Sans stared at the Bastard, who simply winked at him, one long phalange over his mandible.

 _Shh._

Sans sighed. Well, he wasn't any better. His brother _still_ didn't know he was using their father's old lab. In fact, since Gaster's disappearance, he didn't seem to remember their father at all.

"Fine, whatever." He grumbled, walking again.

The three brothers walked for a while, navigating the small high-street that adorned the town-center of Snowdin. Already it was more than Sans had ever seen of the mirror-universe during his three-week stay. In his Snowdin the only place that could even be remotely considered a shop was Grillby's. Everywhere else was disheveled and boarded up, only used by the roving gangs to sleep at night. But here, the town was so _alive_. All the buildings were brightly colored, open windows revealing monsters talking or cooking or doing some other activity. A feast of smells drifted through the air. Savory snacks and sweet pastries, fresh snow and perfume. Even the rotten smell of gutter cleanings and wet fur set Sans' skull spinning. For a while, Sans simply marveled at it all. He didn't know when, but his footsteps became less awkward and his breathing deepened. He relaxed, even cracking a small smile when he saw the 'Snowed Inn' sign.

Walking deeper into the town, more monsters started to appear, talking in the streets, walking pets or setting up decorations. Some ignored them, but most turned to greet Blue and the Bastard, at least nodding their heads if not waving and exclaiming a greeting. Sans baulked, tactically walking beside the Bastard as they passed through. He wasn't _hiding_. Only cowards hid. He was just… trying not to make a scene. He wasn't comfortable letting other monsters know about his existence. After all, he technically didn't belong in their universe. He knew it was hypocritical, considering what he was about to do, but the thought didn't stop him from concealing himself further in the Bastard's shadow.

Eventually, after what seemed like aeons, they reached the edge of the latter half of Snowdin Forest. Blue took the lead, taking them through a couple of turns. Very quickly the forest thickened, the canopy covering the 'sky' and darkening their surroundings to almost pitch night. But still they kept walking, occasionally engaging in small talk until they reached the deepest part of the forest. Blue turned to his brother, eye-ridge raised. Without a word, the Bastard pointed them into a small, densely packed corner. Sans opened his jaw to question how in the _hell_ this was relevant. There was no doubt in his mind that the small thicket would just lead to a dead-end. As if to answer, the hand from earlier rested on his clavicle, giving him a gentle squeeze. Hush words blew past his skull.

"hold tight."

Seconds later tachyons pulled on Sans' matter, bringing with it a familiar yet strange sensation of inertia. Sans shivered. The feeling of another monster using _his_ power on him sent electric trembles down his spine. As quickly as the feeling appeared, it vanished, leaving Sans to figure out that the atmosphere had suddenly changed from the biting cold of frozen forest winds to a moist, temperate damp. Sans stayed frozen, aftershocks buzzing through his frame.

"ugh. no getting used to that, right?"

Sans hesitated, nodding slowly as feeling drifted back into his bones. It didn't help that he hadn't used his powers for a while.

"HEY, COME ON YOU TWO! WE'RE ALREADY LATE!"

Blue, however, seemed totally unaffected by the faster-than-light travel. Instead, he was ahead of them, pointing to a small, bright circle that had _definitely_ not been in front of them before. Tentatively, Sans followed the brothers into the light and suddenly the path opened up onto a blue, glowing meadow of echo-flowers.

Turning around, Sans found the dark path was a small cave hewn into the rock of a sheer cliff. The Bastard repeated the same gesture from before, winking knowingly at Sans. Oh, so maybe that was why? It made sense that the Bastard would try and make the jarring transition look as smooth as possible. Apparently, he wasn't nearly as oblivious as Sans initially thought. He couldn't exactly pin-point why that revelation churned his insides. Sans was pulled out of his thoughts as Blue spoke, redirecting his attention to the meadow.

"WELCOME TO WATERFALL! THROUGH… I GUESS YOU KNEW THAT ALREADY… sorry." It was testament to how long Sans had been here that it was Blue's quietness that struck him. Despite Blue's best attempts to hide it, Sans saw the tension in the skeleton's frame. He frowned. He must be even _weaker_ than before… but he couldn't bear to see his counter-part like that.

Sans forced a smile, huffing. "Heh, it's 'salright." Blue's joints relaxed and Sans had to bite back the small smile that threatened to break loose.

He wasn't entirely lying either. His Waterfall was often marred in dust from frequent battles or monsters who had given up fighting. A constant, swirling mist surrounded the area, acting as both friend and foe to any monster who wanted to make their way through. It was a somber, haunting place. In contrast these meadows had a languid, calming aura. Everything was silhouetted in dim, florescent blue. Even the brightest patches of light were no brighter than a small fire. The quiet hiss and bubble of small streams and inlets seeped into Sans' mind, filling it with a calm, sleepy haze. So this was what he had been missing. This beauty, this serenity, this-

A booming voice broke him from his reverie.

"THERE YOU PUNKS ARE!" Sans froze, pupils contracting.

Years of survival instinct kicked in. Sans frantically scanned around, searching for the source of the voice.

Nothing to the left. Nothing to the right. Sans' frame went cold. _Shit_ , where was that coming from? An electric shock flew down his spine and Sans looked up. He was just in time to see a huge boulder falling from above, right above his skull.

 _Shit_! He needed to run, or dodge, or teleport or do _something_! With no time to activate his magic, he tried to swing out of the path of the careening stone. But he was too slow. By the time his feet moved the rock was only a second away. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. Sans squeezed his sockets shut, bracing himself for the inevitable impact. He could already feel the pain of his own skull splitting in two, bones shattering under the weight of the colossal stone.

…

But nothing came.

A second passed. Then two. On three Sans peeked through his sockets.

His jaw dropped.

The boulder still filled his vision, drenched in blur light. However, any downward momentum had left the projectile entirely, leaving it hanging mere inches from his skull. The blue light hid it well, but as Sans continued to stare at the boulder he saw a light blue film encasing it. He looked to the side and was both shocked and unsurprised to see Blue standing there, arms outstretched in combat-ready position. Tell-tale crackles of blue magic surrounded his gloves, his pupils glowing an iridescent blue and the ever-present smile drawn into a flat-line.

For a moment, Sans stood in dumb silence. Now he'd seen everything. Sans glanced over to the Bastard, who shrugged, completely nonplussed. He turned back. So even Blue wasn't as helpless as he thought. The revelation sank in for a few seconds before the silence and Sans' magic broke. The boulder dropped beside Sans, crashing into the ground and gently rolling into a patch of echo-flowers. The magical residue continued to crackle for a few more moments before it finally fizzled out. Blue relaxed all at once, taking a shuddering breath. He looked into Sans' sockets, eye-ridge crooked in silent question. Sans continued to stare, incredulous.

"Red…?" Sans jolted into attention, flushing. Geez, how long had he been staring? He turned away, frantically trying to calm his erratically beating soul.

"I'm alright!" He heard another sigh and then a giggle.

"GOOD!" Sans turned back, feeling the moment had passed. With his trade-mark grin, Blue looked up the sheer cliff, shouting into the nothingness. "THAT'S TOTALLY NOT FAIR, CAPTAIN ALPHYS! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME TRAINING WAS STARTING YET!"

An equally loud voice responded from the nothingness with an edge of amusement.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET," as the voice continued, it became louder and louder. "FOR BEING LATE, _DWEEB_!"

 _CRASH!_

The skeletons spun around. A cloud of thrown up dust and mud obscured the source of the impact. Sans shivered, instinctively shuffling behind Blue. A single green eye pierced through the veil, glaring at them. The eye stared at Blue, taking in every detail and then moved to Sans. The pupil slit, the sight alone making Sans' legs threaten to give out. The Alphys in his world was insane, but she was never really a threat unless you let her catch you unguarded. But if this universe's Alphys was the _Captain_ of the royal guard… Sans shuffled further behind Blue. Scrap what he said earlier. This was the worst idea he had ever come up with.

The haze cleared, revealing more details of his assailant. Harsh yellow scales bristled like spines, interlocking like scale-mail. A maw of white fangs smiled in his direction, canines flashing in the light. A huge battle-axe loomed, edges nicked from probably a hundred battles. A blue fish-monster and human were slung under the monster's muscular arms, both looking very confused and disoriented.

Wait, _what_?

Sans shook his skull. _What_!?

"U-um, Alphys," the fish-monster started, squirming in Alphys' hold. "W-while I appreciate the help g-getting down. C-could you… um…?" The monster blushed, her face turning an even deeper blue and her red fins darkening. The child on the other side nodded, gently patting the lizard monster's armor in silent request. Realization sparked. It couldn't be…

"Hmm?" Alphys tilted her head in confusion. A second later a dusting of red tinted her cheeks. "O-oh. Right! Got ya." Alphys carefully put the fish-monster and human down onto their feet, huffing.

She was wearing a dusty scientist's coat instead of armor and had a long lock of red hair covering her eye instead of an eye-patch, but Sans recognized Undyne anywhere. Undyne the Undying. Undyne, the second-in-command. Sans thought he could feel his jaw hit the ground. Was this what culture shock felt like? And the human. The human was. Pain lanced through Sans' skull as images of a laughing child kicked about in his memory. _The kid…_

Undyne stood to full-height. He noticed she was at least a good head or so taller than Alphys, who only stood an inch taller than Sans. The monster coughed politely, sweeping herself down as best she could. She smiled sheepishly, attempting a wave before simply deciding to slouch inwards.

"U-uhm… n-nice to see you all again." Beside her, the human waved silently, glancing at Sans with curious eyes. He looked a little older than the kid Sans had seen in his universe and his clothes were different too; much more green. And Sans couldn't tell what it was, but something felt off about this human. It was like someone had compressed all the air around them, the sheer force threatening to bring Sans in and crush him beneath its weight. So was this what determination was like?

Blue screamed, diving to hug Undyne's waist.

"UNDYNE! HUMAN! IT'S BEEN SO LONG!" Everyone flinched, including Undyne but soon they relaxed as she leant into the hold, patting Blue's back with a small smile.

"But didn't we see each other only a few days ago?"

"A MERE TECHNICALITY!" Blue exclaimed, releasing his friend. "HOW HAS YOUR NEW RESEARCH BEEN GOING?" Undyne's smile lost all hint of nervousness.

"Ah, it has been going marvelously!" Undyne looked like she wanted to go into more detail, but the conversation was quickly derailed as Alphys barged past them.

"We can talk about NERD stuff later!"

 _Oomph_!

Sans choked, the air knocked from his frame as Alphys ran into him, picking him up as if he were a sack of sugar. Before Sans could orient himself, let alone complain, she span on her heel. He almost vomited with the motion sickness, but just managed to hold it back. From his vantage he could see the Bastard, clear of the chaos. He was even laughing. Sans growled at him, which only seemed to make him laugh more. _Shit_ , this was so embarrassing!

"Who's this little man?!" Sans flushed with indignation, directing a harsh glare to Alphys' one working eye. What did she just call him?

"' _Little man_ '?" Sans growled, his pupils blacking out. "Why don't you shut your mouth you stupid bit-"

"HE'S MY COUSIN!" Blue interrupted, hurrying back. "HE'S THE ONE I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU ABOUT." He pat her side, not-so-subtly begging her to let Sans down. Alphys' eye slit, taking in Sans again.

"That right? So you're 'Red', huh?"

Sans choked down a string of curses, taking a deep breath instead. It might hurt his pride but causing a scene was something he definitely _didn't_ want to do right now. Not when he was in the grip of a monster who could kill him in a single squeeze.

"Yeah, sure whatev-"

The end of his sentence was cut off in a bone-crushing hug. Was this bitch _trying_ to kill him!? He swore he heard at least two bones crack before the hold loosened, allowing him to crumple gracelessly onto the floor. Alphys cackled, placing her muscular arms onto her hips as Blue helped Sans onto his feet.

"So _YOU'RE_ the one Sans has been going ON AND ON about for the past week! Guess you two _DO_ look similar. You sure you ain't brothers?" Sans and Blue twitched simultaneously, but luckily Alphys quickly moved on, sweeping an arm across the field. "HAH! Well, who cares!? It's only right to offer a name for a name! My name is Captain Alphys, the STRONGEST monster in the Underground and head of the royal guard!" Alphys roared with laughter, placing a hand on the handle of her battle-axe. Sans didn't see the moments between her putting her hand there and the axe moving and the next thing he knew metal was zipping before his eye-sockets, moving harmlessly past him and instead levelling the ground in front of him and Blue.

Alphys continued, pointing with the axe behind Sans and Blue. "And THAT…um" For a brief moment the tirade slowed as some red bloomed on Alphys' cheeks. The moment quickly passed, Alphys shouting even louder than before, "is Undyne, the SMARTEST monster in the Underground and royal scientist!"

Sans turned to the skinny fish-monster, staring at her skeptically. So _this_ really was Undyne. Sans had a mind to laugh, but shut his trap when Undyne looked genuinely flustered and bowed deeply to him.

"I-It's n-nice to finally meet you R-red." Alphys took the limelight again, shifting her axe head to the human who stared silently on.

"And that is the Chara the human! They never talk, so good luck finding out anything else about them!" Chara laughed breathily. It sent a shiver curling down Sans' spine. Sans shook his skull. Why the hell was whatever this kid did, no matter how non-threatening it was, send ice to his soul?

"…Sure… hi, or whatever." He grumbled, raising a hand slightly. It was a luke-warm greeting at best, but he didn't really care. His head was getting overloaded and he was about two seconds from shorting out. Yeah, this had definitely been a bad idea. Maybe he should go bac-

"AND I," Blue piped up, redirecting Sans' attention "AM SANS, THE _COOLEST_ MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND AND A ROYAL GUARD IN TRAINING! AND I BRING WITH ME PAPYRUS, THE _LAZIEST_ MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND AND SENTRY!"

Red tilted his eye-ridges, staring incredulously. Blue laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry. Mweheh, I thought it fit." Sans sighed, though he couldn't resist a slight ghost of a smile. This whole universe and everyone in it were so weird. Silence passed for a few moments before Sans realized everyone was staring at him.

"W-what!?" He stuttered, drawing into himself. "Do I have something on my face!?" Blue, shook his skull, grinning.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Sans froze. Was he being serious? Why would Sans ever do something so mortifying!? The silence continued on, pressure mounting onto Sans. He wouldn't do it! No! No way!

"… AND I AM RED… THE…um…" He struggled to find a word "GRUMPIEST MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND AND SANS' VISITING COUSIN!" Why did he just do that? The Bastard broke down into hysterical laughter behind him, literally falling onto the ground, the tremors rattled his bones. Sans flushed. Great, now they were going to think he was a weirdo.

"IT'S NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU!" The oomph came mostly from Alphys, but Sans still heard Undyne's quavering voice and saw Chara grinning.

…

Freaks… all of them… they were all so corny and… way too nice. It took him a few seconds to realize he was smiling along with them. He blushed, forcing his head down to cover the stupid, dopey grin that just wouldn't go away.

* * *

Alphys' voice boomed around the valley, drawing all eyes back to her.

"And with that, we can now start with our training session! I hope you're ready to work those bones into a good sweat today, PUNK!" Alphys clapped her hand on Blue's shoulder. A powerful smack resounded but if Blue had winced no-one else saw it.

"OF COURSE!" Blue grinned. "Umm… do you mind if Red and Papy watch? Red wanted to come out and see some more of the Underground. And well Papy is… still Papy…" Alphys tilted her head, considering the idea. She turned to the Bastard who had shifted his position, now leaning against a tree, watching the group with lidded eye-sockets. She chuckled, clearly unsurprised by the action. Then she turned to Sans. Feeling that judging eye on him, Sans straightened his spine, holding his breath until a grin lit up the monster's face.

"SURE, why not?! I love an audience!"

And that was that.

It didn't take long for everyone to move out of the way, leaving Blue and Alphys to their training session. Sans, Chara and Undyne walked towards the Bastard, spreading out onto the soft flora that cushioned the ground. Chara sat the furthest away from everyone else, humming to themselves contently as they stared into space. Undyne was closer, to Sans' right, but it quickly became obvious talking to her wasn't an option when she took out a small note-book from her lab-coat pocket and started scribbling in it. To his left, the Bastard seemed out of commission as well, either watching the training session very intently or dozing.

Sans sat between them, boredom slowly taking over. The 'training' was far from exciting, Sans was only going over basic moves like kicks or punches. With his interest rapidly waning and nothing else to focus on, Sans turned his attention to Undyne. Her focus was 100% directed at her note-book, face scrunched up in concentration as she scribbled and rubbed out and re-scribbled on the page. He still couldn't believe that _this_ was her. It was a weird thing to get stuck on, he knew, since Alphys' differences hadn't shaken him nearly as much. It was just that she was so… meek.

In his universe, Undyne was an object of fear, only bested by his brother and Asgore. She was the monster you would tell your little shit-head kids about so they wouldn't go out at night. She was large, intimidating and arrogant. But this Undyne… she reminded him of himself. She reminded him of the part of himself that was a hopeless nerd who was infatuated with science. The part of him that had built the Gaster Blasters from the blue-prints in his father's old books, just because he could. The part of him that stayed locked in the old study at the back of his and Papyrus' home for days on end, simply burying himself in research. She reminded him of his awkwardness.

All of Sans' bitterness flowed away as he remembered her stuttering introduction. 'Meek' wasn't the right word. It was more like Undyne had already been defeated before she had even started fighting. A strange fluttering sensation filled Sans' soul and he decided. He would take the first step.

 _I mean, I've made it this far haven't I? And I haven't died yet._ Sans shook his skull, not wanting to think about it.

Forcing himself onto his feet with a small huff, Sans closed the distance between him and Undyne. She was so focused on whatever she was doing that she didn't even notice his approach. Instead she mumbled something to herself as she rubbed out the pencil marks on the page again. Sans took a deep breath, finding his voice and putting on a small smile.

"Uh… hey… what you doing there?"

"YEEP!" Undyne practically jumped out her scales, spinning around with blown out pupils. Sans recoiled, his smile falling. Great, now he'd scared her. As he made to retreat back to his original spot, a stuttering voice stopped him. "O-oh! Uh… I'm sorry… y-you just… surprised me a little… uhm…" Undyne's expression turned hopeful, eyes brightening and an excited grin filling her face, "have you ever heard of wave function equations?"

Sans paused. Obviously Undyne took his hesitation as rejection, turning back to the page, her scales darkening and smile fading.

"I-I'm sorry, it was a dumb ques-"

"Of course I've _seen_ them!" Sans exclaimed suddenly, surprised at the force of his own objection. They suffered an awkward silence before Undyne slowly looked back at Sans, smiling shakily.

"Did you j-just make a pun?" Sans paused, then groaned at his own slip-up. So now he looked stupid _and_ had missed a quality pun.

"Sorry…"

"Y-you don't need to apologize!" Sans heard lilting laughter and relaxed at the sight of the smiling monster. Heh, guess she wasn't that bad after all if she could appreciate a pun like that? Sans shared in the laughter, adding a few involuntary chuckles of his own. He sat next to Undyne, taking a closer look at the page she was writing on. "You see, I'm having a bit of t-trouble with this problem and n-no matter how much I think about it, i-it still makes no sense!"

Sans' pupils darted over the page, taking in all the details. He'd seen problems like this before.

"You got this part wrong," without thinking he put his phalange on a part of the equation. It was like a stopper had been pulled and suddenly Sans was lecturing Undyne about the finer points of wave-vectors and N particles.

Five minutes and some scribbling later, a perfect equation stood on the page and Sans and Undyne both relaxed completely, debating over some point or other. Geez, when had Sans last been able to talk to someone about science? No memory came to mind. Surprisingly, he was finding it fun, talking with another monster. It was all the more surprising because they'd only really just met. This universe was doing strange things to him.

It could have been 30 minutes later or 3 hours, but eventually the two were stopped as the booming voice of Alphys jolted them out of yet another debate which Sans was obviously winning.

"Hey NERDS! We're taking a break! Come over here would 'ya!?" It was obviously not a question. They sighed simultaneously, Sans rising to his feet as Undyne did the same. They both flicked a small smile at each other, a silent agreement that they would talk again.

Blue and Alphys stood together in the meadow, both sweaty from exertion.

"WHAT WERE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT!?" Blue shouted excitedly, bouncing on the spot as if his energy couldn't be contained.

"Just stuff…" Sans supplied, still smiling.

"AWWH~" Blue stopped jumping, a pout pulling down his grin. "DON'T LEAVE ME OUT!" Sans kept silent, enjoying his brief moment of power. Blue sighed, apparently giving up though his grin came back in full-force. "OH YEAH, RED! CAPTAIN ALPHYS WANTED TO TALK WITH YOU!" Sans froze. Crap.

Looking at the lizard-monster, Sans tensed, his bones rattling. For someone who was almost the same height as him, he'd be damned if Alphys' presence didn't make her look bigger… and scarier… and 'oh-god-she's-gonna-kill-me-help'. Alphys grinned, twisting Sans' insides even more.

"Now I know Sans said you didn't want to fight but- "suddenly she surged forward, grabbing Sans by the clavicles before he could even think to run – "I NEED to know!"

"…huh?"

"I NEED to know how strong you are!" Alphys repeated. She started poking his bones, probably checking for muscle. While the touches weren't hard enough to be painful, they did cause a fluttering discomfort that forced Sans to clamp his mouth shut, otherwise he would start laughing. "It's not often that we see new faces around here. It gets boring sparring the same monsters after a while." She frowned, obviously displeased with her findings. "And you skeletons have no muscle. How am I ever meant to know how STRONG you are when you can't pack on the pounds like most of us monsters do!?" She released Sans, stepping back and placing her hands on her armored hips again. "SO I CHALLENGE YOU TO A SPARRING MATCH!"

Sans recovered his senses, taking a few deep breaths before the weight of Alphys' proposition hit him.

 _Him_? Fight _her_? He would have laughed if he wasn't halfway to crying instead. He'd considered the idea of physical training when he'd first thought about coming to see Blue's friends. After all, in his universe, might made right. If he wanted to change anything when he got home, he'd have to learn how to fight and win; _fast_. But still, taking in the lizard monster's muscles, he couldn't help but quiver. He had to get out of this.

"U-uhm, well I-I… wait, no we can't." Alphys seemed to visibly deflate, slouching.

"AWH. COM'ON, GIVE ME THIS WILL YA? What you scared or somethin'?" Sans twitched. That was exactly it but he was never, ever going to say it out loud. Just as he was about to turn and run, Blue cut in.

"How about we fight instead?"

* * *

"You want me to do _what_!?"

Sans bristled, clavicles hunching forward and pupils wide with utter disbelief. Blue shrugged, eye-ridges crooked like he was confused about Sans' confusion.

"WELL, IT MAKES SENSE, RIGHT? IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT CAPTAIN ALPHYS, COULDN'T _I_ BE YOUR BATTLE PARTNER?" Blue glanced at Alphys. Alphys roared, fixing Sans with what he was quickly learned was a signature glare.

"That sounds like an excellent idea! What do you think, PUNK? I'm sure Sans would go easier on you than I could!" San twitched, his pride wounded. Was he really so pathetic that someone like _Blue_ had to 'take it easy on him'? Something dark stirred in his mind. It was only for a moment, but he wondered if _this_ would be his chance. To show them he wasn't weak? The thought passed, reluctance seeping back in. No, if he did this, he'd just embarrass himself. If nothing else, he didn't want to cause a scene. Years of teaching repeated itself; stay hidden, stay low.

"W-well, I-"

"Or are you too scared?" Blue sniped.

Sans froze. The dark feeling revived, stronger than before. Okay, that does it.

"What'd you say!? I ain't never been scared of a fight!" The statement was far from true, but he chose to ignore that fact, squaring his shoulders and baring his fangs. "Fine, I'll take you on!" If Blue wanted a fight he was going to get one.

"GREAT!"

Quickly, they were both lead to the same patch Blue and Undyne had been training in before, placed facing each other and a meter or so apart. Blue grinned at Sans, seemingly glad he'd gotten Sans involved in what Sans was quickly realizing was his new worst idea of the day. Wasn't this the reason he'd come here; to get stronger? It wasn't like Sans couldn't fight. And it's already been proven that Blue had at least some competence over his magic. But Blue was… well _Blue_. Sans didn't want to hurt him if he didn't need to. Maybe he should call this of-

"RED? YOU ALRIGHT?" Blue shouted, breaking him out of his thoughts yet again. A mischievous grin light up his counter-part's face. "SCARED I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU WITH MY COOLNESS?"

There it was again. It was both surprising and not that Blue knew exactly which buttons to push. Red returned a sneer in kind, huffing out a laugh.

"And who'd be scared of a pint-sized monster like you? Bring it on."

Alphys stood between them, legs shoulder width apart and arms folded in front of her chest.

"Ooh, trash-talking? I like it! Okay you two, we start in 3…"

Sans tensed his body, automatically shifting into a defensive position, one foot behind the other and knees bent.

"2…"

Blue did the same, though his position was more balanced than Sans, keeping light on his feet and bouncy.

"1…"

Sans shut out the world around him, all his senses focusing. He breathed deep, taking in the damp air. His magic clawed at his mind and bones, begging eagerly to form and vent his emotions. Sans growled, red pupils shining in the blue light.

"GO!"

As the syllable left Alphys' mouth, Sans slide backwards, creating distance. He smiled, noticing Blue's pupils widen in shock. Heh, good. If there was anything he'd learnt from watching the fights in his universe, intimidation was often what decided who lived and who died. He adopted a cautious stance, raised onto his heels. His mind ran a mile a minute, checking his peripherals while always keeping one eye firmly on his combatant.

Never attack first. It gives you away.

Battle tactics streamed through his mind, remembered from a thousand different books. He growled, glaring at Blue, trying to goad him into revealing his hand.

 _Com'on, you know you want to_.

Blue hadn't moved, still standing in place. If anything, he looked even _more_ relaxed than before, smiling dopily at Sans.

 _Fuck_. Either Blue knew more about fighting than Sans or he wasn't taking this seriously. Sans' magic boiled at the thought of being under-estimated. Sans started to circle around Blue, his stance compact and lithe. He may be weak, but he was faster than the average monster. Still nothing.

"Aren't you gonna do something?" He grumbled, tracking every movement. "This isn't much of a fight."

Blue giggled.

"WELL, YEAH! BEING A ROYAL GUARDSMAN ISN'T ABOUT BEING VIOLENT, AFTER ALL!"

Sans tsked under his breath. Jealousy flared and his magic threatened to manifest. Blue didn't realize how lucky he was to be able to say that…

"Don't underestimate me, Blue." It was more venomous than he'd intended. Blue twitched, concern softening his pupils. He looked genuinely sorry. Sans growled. "Don't! Com'on! Throw an attack… right here." He pointed at his skull-fracture, fangs bared. "I dare you." This wasn't right, the saner part of his mind shouted. Blue was concerned about Sans. It was obvious that something was wrong with Sans. It only made sense that Blue would be hesitant.

Sans sneered. Of course Blue wouldn't hit him, his self-hatred echoed. In the end, Blue didn't think of him any different than an injured baby-bones. Always needing comfort when they cried at night. Always needing someone to protect them. Always losing. Always weak.

Well guess what? Sans wasn't a child who needed saving.

He needed to fight.

"Blue, _com'on_!"

He needed to prove himself.

"Hit me!"

He needed…

"I can't protect you from them if I don't know how to fight, Boss!"

Sans froze, stance forgotten as he processed his own the hell did _that_ mean? When had his brother come into this!? Even as he tried to dismiss the idea, all Sans could think about was Papyrus; _his_ Papyrus. It felt like daggers of ice were piercing his soul, sending it screaming. Wolfston's snarling face flashed before his pupils. If only he'd fought back then. Maybe then Papyrus wouldn't be like he was now. Maybe he'd be happy. It was all his fault, his fault his fau-

A small voice stopped his rapidly descending thought-train.

"I'll show you." Sans looked up. Blue was frowning, pupils dimmed to almost black. Sans shivered, sanity returning. Maybe he'd gone too far?

The air fizzled as the latent magic condensed, energy swirling around Blue's gloved hands. Sans remembered how he'd looked when he was holding the boulder before. Blue wasn't a monster to be trifled with, despite his appearance.

"I HOPE YOU'RE READY." Blue was staring directly at him, a bone materializing in front of him. It was small compared to the ones Boss could make and smooth, but with the way Blue was glaring at him, Sans didn't want to know what it could do. Sans tensed, instinct readying his teleport while his more animalistic magic shouted at him to summon his blasters and end the fight right here.

"HERE WE GO!" Blue threw the bone forward with his blue magic, sending it flying towards Sans' face. It was too late. Sans' feet were frozen to the floor. He squeezed his eye-sockets shut, waiting for the attack to hit and probably kill him.

"PEEK-A-BOO!" The unmistakable cheerful voice came from behind him. Sans' eyes snapped open just in time to see Blue's grinning face right in front of him, the bone now gone. Sans would never admit he screamed but… well… He jumped back, pushing Blue away with an arm. It was then that Sans realized he couldn't move his hands.

 _What?_ He tugged his arms, trying to move either one from behind his back. They didn't budge, only tugging against some sort of restraint fitted around his wrists. Sans swiveled his skull, his jaw dropping when he saw what was restraining him. A bone, stretched and shaped into an infinity sign, was clamped around his wrists, surrounded in faint blue magic. It wasn't a tight grip, but it was enough. He turned back, jaw agape.

"How did you?"

"THERE'S MORE WAYS TO FIGHT THAN FIGHTING, YOU KNOW?" Blue chuckled. "IF FIGHTING AND KILLING WERE THE ONLY ANSWERS, I'M SURE WE WOULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED THIS LONG. CAPTAIN ALPHYS TOLD ME THAT!"

Sans growled.

"You making fun of me!? Try telling that to _them_!" Red magic crackled around Sans, forming a wall to push Blue further away from him. Dammit, how was he meant to win like this!? Blue stood his ground, letting himself slide while still keeping his pupils fixed on Sans'.

"I'M NOT SAYING IT TO THEM. I'M SAYING IT TO _YOU_. YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT THE ONES YOU LOVE, RIGHT?"

Sans flinched, magic dissipating as he lost his focus. 'Love'?... It had been so long since he'd heard that word.

"I…"

"IT'S OKAY IF YOU AREN'T THE BIGGEST OR THE STRONGEST OR EVEN THE MOST POPULAR. YOU'RE YOU. AND I'M SURE YOU'LL FIND A WAY TO HELP THEM. YOU DON'T NEED TO FIGHT. ME AND CAPTAIN ALPHYS AND UNDYNE AND PAPY CAN HELP TOO!"

All at once the energy dispersed and Sans fell to his knees. He felt the restraint loosen and eventually disappear altogether but he simply stayed put. It sounded impossible. All his life it had been kill or be killed. If you didn't fight, you died and everyone who you cared about died with you. He didn't want to die… but still… he remembered the kid and his stupid flower and how he'd just let them go… he didn't want to kill.

Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed his shoulder, lifting him bodily to his feet. Sans looked into Alphys' single eye, which stared softly down at him.

"You doing alright there, shorts-stuff? Looked like you were going to throw up back there. Sorry if I put you through somethin' you didn't wanna do."

"A-are you alright?" Undyne's concern brought Sans' eyes to everyone else, who had crowded around him and Blue while he hadn't been noticing. Chara and Undyne stood Alphys, the latter on the verge of tears while the former simply stared blankly, eyes sad yet oddly understanding. Sans thought the Bastard would be leering at him, making fun of his weakness. Instead, however, his expression was a flat-line, pupils vacant and shoulders slumped. Sans felt like he wanted to cry. He'd gone on and on about not creating a scene and here he was, doing just that.

"U-Uhm…" he blushed. Aw, geez, he probably looked like such an idiot. For a moment, he stared down at the floor, not knowing what else to focus on. Blue's voice repeated in his head. He was himself… and he didn't need to fight to win… A surge of power filled his bones. As he repeated it to himself, the power kept rising, making him feel stronger than he ever had before. He clenched his phalanges into a fist and then looked up again, grinning. "Yeah, I'm fine."

A collective breath was released and suddenly the mood shifted. Alphys slapped his back firmly, roaring with laughter.

"That's the SPIRIT! I guess you skeletons don't need muscles to show off how strong you are!"

Strong? Sans flushed a deep red, mumbling incoherently to himself.

"Y-yeah! A-and, um, I'd love to talk again about…" Undyne paused, stopping herself from going on another technical tirade "science s-stuff! I-if it's not too m-much trouble?"

Chara hummed, nodding vigorously with a smile that wasn't quite as disturbing as before… though it still sent shivers down Sans' spine. Two gentle hands grabbed either of Sans' shoulders and he looked at Blue and the Bastard, smiling warmly at him. They looked relieved but also… proud?

"good to see you're still with us, grumpy." Sans huffed, hitting the Bastard softly.

"Yeah, yeah." Blue chuckled.

"WELL THEN, I THINK WE'VE HAD ENOUGH ADVENTURES FOR ONE DAY! HOW ABOUT WE GO HOME AND I MAKE MY GOURMET SPECIALTY?"

Sans shivered and he could feel the Bastard doing the same, but they both steeled themselves. For a moment, their pupils met. The Bastard's pupils were dim. Sans supposed it was just a natural reaction to the threat of his brother's tacos, but there was something else. Something more serious.

Sans didn't have any more time to consider it, as soon they were all saying their goodbyes and walking back towards the cave. As Sans waved one final time to Blue's friends, he decided that, all in all, it had been a good choice to come here. He may have lost his pride and dignity, but in his place he felt he'd gained something much more valuable. Hope.

* * *

As soon as the front door opened, Sans practically ran inside the house, throwing himself onto the couch and curling into a ball. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and all at once he melted into the fabric, exhaustion tugging at his eye-lids. Today had been _way_ too stressful. He just wanted to sleep. Sadly, his wish was disrupted by the loud chuckles of a certain Bastard.

"nyeheh. aw, is grumpy tired?"

"Shut up." Sans growled, burrowing deeper into the couch. More chuckling. Of course the Bastard wasn't tired. Apart from at the very end of the day, he'd been sleeping the whole time, probably thinking about something stupid.

"AW, NOW COME ON PAPY~ RED'S TIRED." The Bastard hummed.

"yeah, I suppose so bro."

The front door clicked shut. Sighing, Sans angled his skull just enough so that he could see Blue walk into the kitchen, calling out that food would be ready as soon as possible. Sans smiled dimly. Yeah, food sounded really good right about now. The Bastard shuffled further into the room, sitting on the part of the sofa that Sans wasn't occupying. Sans wouldn't admit it, but the Bastard's warmth was infinitely more comforting than the sofa alone could ever be.

Silence drifted between them for a few minutes and Sans was finding it harder and harder to keep his own eye-sockets open. Just as he was about to fall unconscious, the Bastard spoke up.

"hey, red."

Sans hummed, incapable of actual speech.

"hey red, come on." Sans was gently jostled, pulling him away from sleep's loving embrace.

"What?" he grumbled curtly. Blue was right, he was really tired. He looked at the Bastard, who smiled back at him. However, it was obvious from so close that the smile didn't reach his eye-sockets.

"i want to talk to you about something."

Sans sighed, rolling onto his back so he could glare at the Bastard more easily.

"Could we not?" The Bastard sighed, smile dropping into something sadder.

"please… for me?"

Sans paused. He hadn't heard Blue's brother be this serious since he'd gotten here. He grumbled, swinging his legs onto the ground. He stood up, stretching his spine. He groaned at the click it made.

"Fine, whatever. Let's go."

The Bastard hummed, standing beside him. Sans continued.

"So what did you want to talk abo-" Sans was cut off when the Bastard touched his shoulder and before he could even question it they were travelling through space-time again. Sans froze, wanting to break away from what he felt was a rapidly worsening situation, but knowing that if he moved too much, there was a possibility he'd cause more problems for himself.

Seconds later, they appeared in Snowdin Forest. From what Sans could see, it was a clearing set deep within the forest, probably at its deepest point where few other monsters would think to go. In some places, the trees were almost overlapping each other, the evergreen branches forming walls on all sides. Some trees had, however, been apparently blown away, shattered into tiny, burnt pieces. Sans swore. That type of damage. He'd seen it before.

Blasters.

"What the fuck is going on!?" He rounded on the Bastard, who was standing in the center of the clearing, looking up at the ceiling and the 'stars' that had started to glow. He looked zoned out. Sans growled. "Papyrus, what are we doing here?"

"do you want to stay here?"

Sans flinched, not expecting the question.

"What?"

"do you. want to. stay here?"

"What the hell does that mean!? Aren't I already staying with you?" Confusion set in and with it anziety. The atmosphere felt too heavy here. Like even one mis-step could cause everything to break. The Bastard sighed, looking directly at him now.

"no, i mean… do you want to stay with us… permanently? I dunno it's just-" Papyrus huffed, bringing a hand to his skull and rubbing his temple. It was only then that Sans noticed he had a cigarette between his teeth, smoke pooling into the night air. "… look, i know this probably sounds like the stupidest thing you've ever heard but i know that if you stay here, you won't ever need to be afraid again… you can stay with me and bro and just… not go back? i know who you are and i know that those scars" Papyrus pointed at Sans "were caused by your universe's twisted version of me." Papyrus gave a clearly forced smile. "but we wouldn't treat you like that. ever… so, what do you say?"

A tense silence descended, neither monster speaking. Was Papyrus being serious about this? A quick look told him he was, pupils hopeful. Sans considered it. It could be a good deal, staying here. But then the feeling from before, the hope he'd felt at the idea of growing stronger, of going back home to his Papyrus and being able to proudly say that he was better, that he could make a difference.

That was the key word, wasn't it? Home. He wanted to go home.

"…I'm sorry." Papyrus frowned, his pupils disappearing.

"i see…" Like this, the Bastard looked just like his Papyrus on that day he'd lost him forever. Heart-broken and enraged at the same time.

"Papyrus, I-"

"I can't lose…"

"Wha-"

"you were holding yourself back around my bro weren't you? don't lie, i can sense your blasters… thanks for that. and for not telling him about our little secret… he isn't ready to know about that"

Sans quivered. He didn't like where this was going.

"Papy-"

"do you think i can't protect you?... i'll show you."

The atmosphere, if it had been heavy before, was crushing now, magic flowing around Papyrus in orange wisps of flame, focusing on his eye-socket and surrounding his pupils with orange light.

"i'll show you what strength is… i'll show you i can protect you… sans…"

Sans baulked at his real name being used. He hadn't heard it in so long and Papyrus seemed to be saying it with so much emotional weight it was almost as crushing as the force of magic around them. Papyrus looked like he was ready to break out into tears.

 _ZOIP!_

A small portal opened beneath Papyrus, but before he could fall in, something rose out of it. A gigantic skull with burning orange pupils lifted Papyrus off the ground, staring at Sans. Sans' soul sank.

"you have to…" Papyrus looked at him again, though he didn't seem to be seeing him anymore. Instead, his pupils were empty, blank of all emotion. He paused, gathering himself. The Gaster Blaster started glowing, collecting magic in its internal engine.

"you have to…" The blaster started glowing brighter, the magic condensing into an almost solid and incredibly potent form. If Sans didn't move, he would be obliterated by the beam.

 _Shit!_

"you have to believe me!"

The blaster fired.


End file.
